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Posts Tagged ‘Tom Petty’

JamBase Questionnaire: Roots of Creation

Welcome back to JamBase’s baker’s dozen to the bright lights of the music world. Last time we heard from The Steepwater Band.

new live album

Southern New Hampshire isn’t the first spot folks start looking for high-octane modern reggae, which is too bad since Roots of Creation are one of the most exhilarating, rules breaking units blowing up right now. With of ample dousing of gnarly, rock-flavored guitars and a healthy blip logic that shows more than a passing familiarity with contemporary electronica, RoC join the shortlist of young bands – UK-based Soothsayers, New Zealand’s The Black Seeds and fellow U.S. acts John Brown’s Body and Groundation – moving reggae forward into the 21st century.

You can hear their highly engaging, forward pushing sound in action on RoC Live, Vol. 2 (released on October 26 on Harmonized Records). Culled from performances from 2009 and 2010, including songs recorded during sets at the Wormtown and Nateva Music Festivals, The Paradise Rock Club in Boston and more, Live Vol. 2, the band’s fourth album, features the engaging single “Policy, ” a bouncing cover of Talking Heads’ “This Must Be The Place” and a barnstorming finale take on Tom Petty’s “You Don’t Know How It Feels,” that reinvents the tune. Elsewhere, unpredictable, heavy duty instrumental “Mammoth” and originals “Dubby Conqueror” and “Searchin’” hint at good things to come from RoC. The album was mixed by engineer Pete Peloquin (Pixies, Dave Matthews, OAR) and co-mixed by the group’s live sound engineer Cooper Leafe, giving the set an immediacy and clarity that mixes the best traits of home listening and live sound.

Roots of Creation formed in 2000 while attending college together and began touring seriously in 2004. Today the band is comprised of original members Brett Wilson (lead vocals, guitar), Tal Pearson (keyboards) and Mike Chadinha (drums), and they are currently touring with bassist Brandon Downs and second guitarist Jay McGuinness. Based on the evidence of Live Vol. 2, this is a lethal live act with a promising drive and open minds. Can’t ask for more than that, particularly in a genre that often plays too heavily to tradition. In RoC’s hands, reggae is both relevant and exciting. (Dennis Cook)

Roots of Creation will play New Year’s Eve at Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA, followed by a January 1st show at Crotched Mountain in Bennington, NH.

Here’s what Brett Wilson and Tal Pearson had to say to our inquiries.

Brett Wilson of RoC

Instrument(s) of choice:

Brett: Vocals / Guitar – DeArmond Starfire & Ibanez Artcore Hollowbody through a Fender Amp with lots of pedals

Tal: Keys. Right now having lots of fun with my Roland SH-201. It’s good for Whomping.

Nicknames:

Brett: “Bdubs” & “Wilson”

Tal: “The mantis”

1. Great music rarely happens withoutÂ…
Brett: Inspiration, originality, chemistry, passion, pain, and my buddies Sauza and Mary Jane.

Tal: Inspiration. Vibes. A feeling in the room.

2. The first album I bought wasÂ…
Brett: Ten cassette tapes for a penny from Columbia House. Favorite one was the Grateful Dead.

Tal: Dookie by Green Day

3. The last song or album to really flip my wig wasÂ…
Brett: Rebelution’s “Feelin’ Alright”

Tal: Mumford and Sons’ Sigh No More

4. When I was a kid I wanted to grow up to beÂ…
Brett: A movie reviewer or comic book illustrator.

Tal: Still not really sure.

5. My favorite sort of gig isÂ…
Brett: When we turn a club into an arena and a late night festival slot into a house party.

Tal: When you can feel the venue shaking because everyone is dancing so much! And I love it when the crowd is responsive to different things, like the music changing or the lights getting intense.

6. One thing I wish people knew about me isÂ…
Brett: Gingers DO have soul!

Tal: I really do have good taste in music!

7. I love the sound ofÂ…
Brett: Wookies WHOMPing

Tal: HUGE bass in the speakers!

8. One day I hope to make an album as fantastic asÂ…
Brett: Beck’s Midnight Vultures

Tal: Band of Horses’ Everything All The Time

9. The best meal I ever had on tour was atÂ…
Brett: Green Mountain College, all the vegetarian food and breakfast cereal you could ever want. Plus they recycle, compost, and are super nice.

Tal: Probably a giant breakfast somewhere with everything – eggs, bacon, French toast, sausage, home fries, soda, andÂ…American Cheese! Don’t remember where exactly.

10. I always find the coolest audiences inÂ…
Brett: Smaller cities, festivals and colleges, especially in MI, NC, CO, NH, and the West Coast

Tal: Music festivals.

11. The worst habit I’ve picked up being on the road all the time isÂ…
Brett: Pizza and a Smartphone addiction.

Tal: Sleeping til 1 pm.

12. The Beatles or the Stones? Por que?
Brett: The Stones. Beatles = great songs, but the Stones were bad ass and have raw energy – the epitome of rock ‘n’ roll. Plus, Mike Jagger kicked it with Peter Tosh and Keith Richard’s new roots reggae albums are great!

Tal: I’ve always gone with The Beatles on this one. I think their music is much more interesting, and that they had a greater influence on the sounds of rock and roll to come.

13. The craziest thing I ever saw wasÂ…
Brett: Tie between playing a guerilla set at Rothbury on shakedown to a literal sea of people and my picture in High Times – January 2011 issue on page 108 of the 420th issue – playing at Nateva with a SSDP shirt on.

Tal: The catering areas of big music festivals are always sort of surreal to me because you’re eating lunch next to people you’ve listened to and watched for a long time! I remember at Rothbury in 2009, casually eating some delicious food next to the guys from Soulive and then Willie Nelson happened to wander by. Surreal.


Roots of Creation Tour Dates :: Roots of Creation News :: Roots of Creation Concert Reviews

JamBase | Worldwide
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Gathering of the Vibes Preview

By: Dennis Cook
JamBase Associate Editor

Gathering of the Vibes :: 07.29.10-08.01.10 :: Seaside Park :: Bridgeport, CT

Once again the pilgrimage to the Vibes begins as folks gather along the Connecticut shoreline to enjoy headliners including Primus, Furthur, Robert Randolph & The Family Band and Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley & Nas. With Wavy Gravy as colorful MC, this weekend is filled with two stages packed with some of the best the jam world has to offer. Here’s five recommendations beyond the big names to consider if you’ll be Vibin’ it in the days ahead.

1. Hot Day At The Zoo :: Thursday :: 12:45-2:00 PM :: Green Vibes Stage

Put directly, Hot Day is one of the best string bands out there. Full of feisty energy, wicked chops, increasingly together songwriting and a good nose for covers, New England-based HDATZ offer a slightly sophisticated take on country comfort with no small measure of individual personality to boot. Well worth having your campsite set up early so you can attend and fully get into it with the Zoo.

2. Leroy Justice :: Thursday :: 4:15-5:30 PM :: Green Vibes Stage

One of NYC’s finest, classic-minded outfits should be the perfect score to get your first solid drunk on for the weekend. There’s something raw ‘n’ real about Leroy Justice that makes a person want to bend an elbow and get down into the muck with ‘em. Anyone with a sweet tooth for Black Crowes style meat ‘n’ taters rock – especially from guys who write way above par original material and deliver it with significant muscle and flair – are in for a treat this Thursday. Leroy Justice also put out one of the great sleepers of 2009 called The Loho Sessions, which was produced by mixing board maestro John Siket. Read the JamBase rave here.

3. Jackie Greene :: Friday :: 1:40-3:10 PM :: Main Stage

Bay Area boy Greene is on a pretty hot roll right now. His new album, Till The Light Comes (see review here), is an end-to-end corker, his band is tight, he’s grown into one of the strongest interpreters of the Dead catalog around, and his beard is coming in nicely. Greene is quality bang for your buck, and with Furthur on the festival grounds the same day chances of a Phil sit-in are pretty decent.

4. Assembly of Dust :: Saturday :: 2:40-4:10 PM :: Main Stage

AOD’s tunes have the quality of fantastic lost singles – easy to dig right away and better loved with repetition – and the band plays with a level of care and technical dexterity that’s rare today. Assembly’s whole aura draws one in and reminds one of an era when real musicians with genuine artistry made pop music. If radio weren’t the corporate wasteland it is then AOD’s music would already be bumping shoulders with Tom Petty, Sheryl Crow and the other mainstays on the FM dial. However, folks can enjoy their craftsmanship on a sunny Saturday at the Vibes and imagine how much better the airwaves would be with AOD on them.

5. Martin Sexton with the Ryan Montbleau Band :: Sunday :: 3:25-4:40 PM :: Main Stage

Sexton’s new album, Sugarcoating, is perhaps his most tuneful and readily appealing song cycle to date. So it makes a certain cosmic sense for him to hook up with Montbleau and his populist leaning crew. What’s in store is an hour and change filled with fleshed out, nicely rockin’ pop with tasty covers from the likes of Zeppelin and The Beatles. And by Sunday afternoon this might be just the ticket to get you to the finish line for Vibes 2010.

Gathering of the Vibes Music Schedule

Gathering of the Vibes Directions

Gathering of the Vibes Official Site

JamBase review of 2009 Gathering of the Vibes

JamBase | Seaside
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Tom Petty: Something Good Coming

By: Dennis Cook

Tom Petty by Sam Jones

Gris-gris, jack ball, hoodoo bag – all different names for the same thing, a totem that signifies rejuvenation, root energy, life force. When one’s mojo is workin’ they hum from the inside out and their actions strike like a marksman’s arrow, sharp and true. So, it’s fitting that the latest long-player by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers is dubbed Mojo (arriving June 15 on Reprise/WEA). Despite 35 years and counting on the ramparts, this band sounds like they scored a swell new mojo hand, coming on as fired up and ready to wave rock’s banner as they did back in 1976. Mojo feels engaged on every level, the unadulterated of a rock band making rock music.

“That’s exactly what it was. We had a terrific time doing it. I don’t think we could have had more fun,” says Petty. “We recorded it live-in-the-studio. We did a few overdubs, not a lot, and the rule was to try and not do any. We like it and feel really good about it.”

Mojo is the first studio Petty and the Heartbreakers studio release since 2002′s The Last DJ and the first time recording together again after the 2008 self-titled Mudcrutch record, where Petty and Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench reformed their pre-Heartbreakers band. That record was similarly cut with a live approach and influenced Mojo‘s general feel.

“I think the Mudcrutch record turned a lot of things around for me in terms of how I approach recording. That was such a pleasurable thing. It was a record that we made that I actually like to go back and listen to [laughs]. I don’t normally do that; I’m usually fed up with it by the time I’m done with it. [Afterwards], I thought, ‘Why would I do it any other way?’ and let’s see how it works on the Heartbreakers,” explains Petty. “With the Heartbreakers, we hadn’t made a record in so long I really wanted it to be really good.”

The new record has a darker hue in places than some chapters in the Petty catalogue, with a thick, present sound and lyrics so sharp they draw blood. A bit of Mudcrutch’s psychedelic bent also finds its way into the proceedings, particularly on standout “First Flash of Freedom.”

“The takes were usually very early takes, and I wanted to leave room for improvisation. We didn’t really demo this up. I just came in with my guitar, played them a song on it and took it from there,” says Petty. “So, everyone had a lot to contribute. I guess ‘organic’ is an overused word but it is pretty organic because it was created right there on the studio floor. We didn’t polish it up. We just took it as it was. The groove was the important thing. I wanted everything to have a deep pocket, and I think we succeeded pretty much on that level.”

In 2010, rock has largely lost its hips, ceded the dance floor to urban soul and mainstream pop and country, forgetting its early primary purpose of getting folks to sway and grind together to the beat. Thankfully, masters like Petty and his running partners haven’t lost the script.

“Swing is the key word. The swing has kind of gone away, and it’s become a little stiff to me. I really admire what Booker T & The MGs do, that sort of groove. JJ Cale has a great groove, too,” offers Petty. “This is what the band has grown into [laughs]. This accurately reflects what we’ve turned into. We’ve got a lot deeper pocket than we used to. In the early ’80s I don’t think we would have or could have made this record.”

Even Rock Stars Get The Blues

Petty & The Heartbreakers by Mary Ellen Matthews

There’s a blues undercurrent to the album, from the title to opener “Jefferson Jericho Blues” to something more indefinable and haunted in the shadows. If anything, Mojo hews close to the blazing blues-rock of early Fleetwood Mac.

“I love Peter Green! He’s one of my idols. I could listen to Peter Green all day. And that’s very much what I had in mind on a lot of the [new] stuff. I wanted to get a sound that mixed up say the Chicago Chess stuff and John Mayall, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, early Jeff Beck Group. These were records I played to the engineer a lot before we began the project,” says Petty. “I told him, ‘I want the guitars right up loud, as loud as the vocals when [Mike] plays,’ and I think we succeeded at that. Mike’s just amazing. He really stepped up and did his part.”

Campbell is right out front on Mojo. It’s a refreshing change of pace and perhaps a chance for folks who haven’t paid close attention the past 35 years to discover just how tremendous a guitarist Mike Campbell truly is. Often he’s an extremely tasteful, subtle, respectful player, working into the muscular of the music rather than riding on top.

“I tried to kinda drum that out of him [laughs]. It was like, ‘Okay, let’s show ‘em what you can do. Just rip and have some fun.’ He never let us down,” enthuses Petty. “I’ve known Mike and Ben for so long and they still amaze me. I couldn’t dream of playing with anyone else.”

Tench, Campbell and Petty have played together for close to four decades, and yet their chemistry and obvious camaraderie make each new chapter feel fresh and exciting for them, which in turn sparks off fan enthusiasm in a very tangible way. Nothing compares with the force of a shared endeavor that guys put their backs into, and these three do that again & again.

Vintage Mike Campbell by Dennis Callahan

“What else would I want? I’ve always been so satisfied with them and the position I’m in with them,” Petty says. “When we came together we had very similar record collections, very similar tastes, and that’s always been important to us, that our reference points are really clear. But I’ve always felt it was a little bit of luck that they walked into my life when they did. And I think we all respect each other and we’re who each of us wants to play with.”

The impression from the outside may sometimes be that this is Tom Petty’s band but spend a little time talking with the man and it’s clear he sees this as a full-blooded collaboration. And it always has been in his mind.

“We’ve never looked at it as me and a backup group. We’ve always treated the band as equals. Maybe I’m sort of the final stamp of approval, but I think everybody has an equal input. And it’s not something we work on; it’s very natural. We don’t talk about it a lot, we just do it,” says Petty. “I’m very grateful for whatever force of nature brought them to me.”

“Mike has always understood [me]. If I have a song he’ll play something better than I picture it. He’ll always hand me something better than what I handed him. There’s very little to say but, ‘Oh yeah, that’s great.’ It’s a great little group and I’m really glad I’m still in it.”

Continue reading for more on the new album, new tour and Mudcrutch…

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers by Sam Jones

Capturing Mojo

“We did [Mojo] at the Heartbreakers’ clubhouse/rehearsal space and studio where all the gear is stored. Literally every piece of gear we’ve ever bought is there, and it’s really handy and accessible,” explains Petty. “Over the years it’s morphed into more of a studio. We’ve built a nice control room there, but it’s very casual. We’d just roll in and start to play. There’s no headphones, and that changes things quite a bit to not be separated and playing in different rooms. So, we’re playing with just floor monitors. We can’t have them up very loud but that’s what we’re using. It’s pretty much like a rehearsal in some ways. By the time we learn a song we’ve got a couple of takes.”

“And [engineer] Ryan Ulyate (ELO, George Harrison) has really changed my life since he came into the picture. He’s very good at understanding what I want without a lot of discussion, and I can stay on the studio floor and worry about the arrangements while he worries about the control room. It’s a real good tag-team we’ve got between he, Mike and myself. And I didn’t feel the need to bring a producer in. I felt I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do.”

Over the years, Petty has built up his production skills, learning better and better how to capture the sound and vision inside his head on tape.

“The great thing is when it surpasses what you had in mind! I often didn’t know exactly what I had in mind; I just had it with a guitar and could sort of picture what they’d bring to it. But they always surprised me and did something better than what was in my mind. I sometimes didn’t know if I had that strong a song and they’d turn around and give me something incredible, like with ‘Don’t Pull Me Over’ [on Mojo]. I didn’t even intend to show them that song. It’s got a slight reggae groove to it and I thought that might rule it out. But we ran out of songs [laughs]. So, I said, ‘Well, I’ve got this thing, but I don’t knowÂ…’ They came out with this fantastic groove on it. We weren’t going to put it on the record but anybody who came by the studio said we should put it on the record. So, it got us all thinking it was something.”

“We all didn’t want to quit. I felt so in the pocket – I was coming up with songs and the band was cutting them so easily and having such a good time doing it. I think we’d still be there but we had to quit because of the [summer] tour coming up on us. It could have very easily been a double album. We still have a few tracks that didn’t end up on the record because of time constraints. I just never felt so comfortable recording. I could have just kept going.”

The Trip To Pirate’s Cove

The lyrics on Mojo have the density and intensity only a life deeply lived could produce. But, it’s largely not sing-along Petty fare, instead delving into gray areas and culling memorable but not necessarily bright moments from Petty’s long road. One number that slithers with a grimy, realistic underbelly is slow burn “The Trip To Pirate’s Cove.”

new album

“I think it’s probably got some reality base [laughs]. That was a really particular one where I really liked the story so much and Ryan and I talked about it a lot. We really liked the story but when we started to do the song I had a whole different set of music to it. It was much quicker, a faster tempo, and it just wouldn’t play,” recalls Petty. “It was one of the only difficult ones, and I rewrote it three times and came in with different ideas that we’d try. We got a little discouraged and thought we might have to throw it away. But it was too good a story, so we felt we had to find the right groove for it. We finally found the music that we used, and I was really relieved. Now I can’t imagine it any other way.”

The track has the quality of Santa Cruz, California on a stormy day after the tourists and college students have left and only the locals move through quiet, windblown streets. Petty says, “That’s what I kept thinking – that we had to find something that captured the feel of the story. It just took a while to find the feel and the groove and the melody.”

One of the first shows on the brief 2008 West Coast Mudcrutch tour was in Santa Cruz, and it drew in a colorful bunch of bikers, aging hippies, curious roots rockers and Gainesville expatriates [see the original JamBase review here]. It was a marvelous affirmation of rock’s power over some folk’s lives, not the least of which the five guys up on stage.

“That was the second show we played, and we were just elated by it. That was such a fun little tour. I wish it could have gone on & on. We were just so happy to be back together. They were all staying at my house, and we were all just having such a great time,” says Petty, who confirms the impression that what one heard inside the Santa Cruz Civic was the sound of guys rediscovering why they’d picked up instruments in the first place. “Yes, very much so. There was no other agenda other than to enjoy ourselves and play that music. It really did feel like the old days having those guys all together. Everything we played, all the covers, were things we used to play. It was really nostalgic for us. And Tom Leadon and Mike have such a cool guitar thing going together.”

Bringing The New Into The Old

The tunes on Mojo seem readymade for the road and likely to thrive once they’ve had some time to breathe in front of a fired up crowd.

“I didn’t ever use more than six pieces. The idea was to keep it down to combo size, and I didn’t really go for any major production. I just wanted to get a nice sound on the band and let them play,” says Petty. “When we’ve been rehearsing the new stuff has been very strong, very powerful, maybe more powerful than the record.”

Vintage Petty & The Heartbreakers by Steve Wilson

Tom Petty and The Hearbreakers began their new tour last week. The challenge with any band that’s been around this long and had as many hits as these guys is how to integrate the new material into the existing body of work in a live context, where, face it, many fans pony up the bucks to hear “American Girl” and “Free Fallin’” rather than what’s happening today. It’s part of the American tendency towards major brand loyalty and fear of the non-familiar that creates a challenge to Petty in balancing audience expectations with artistic needs.

“It’s something we’ve really been talking about a lot lately. You really do walk a thin line when you’ve got this big a catalog. We can do shows where people sing the entire show, and when we interrupt their sing-along they tend to get testy. But I think it’s time we really focus on the new stuff, and we’ll give them enough of the old stuff. Okay, I’ll give you what you came to hear, but I think it’s important that we keep this a contemporary trip or we’re gonna start to feel like this is some kind of oldie-goldie thing, which it isn’t,” states Petty. “I love the old stuff but I think this tour you’re gonna hear a lot of the new stuff. And if you don’t like that then don’t come.”

“I really believe we’re gonna be able to play a great deal of this new stuff and no one is gonna go for a beer. It’s really strong in the rehearsals. And I’m just really taken with how strong it is in general,” says Petty, who knocked it out with the band recently on Saturday Night Live, shaking maracas and looking hell bent for leather [see the performance below]. “I did the run-through with the guitar and I just didn’t feel good with it. And I thought, ‘I’m not really doing anything here,’ and I wasn’t even playing it till the end of the song. So, I decided to put it down and try it without it.”

One can see Petty egg Campbell on in this performance, literally motioning him into the spotlight and firing him up. This is what a great bandleader does – aids and abets his players, draws out the best in them – and Petty is surely one of rock’s finest bandleaders at this stage in his career.

“That’s my job – to get the most out of them I can get and to keep them focused. It isn’t really that hard.”

For more on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, check out JamBase’s extensive 2009 interview with Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Tour Dates :: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers News :: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Concert Reviews

JamBase | High In The Morning
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My Morning Jacket: August Tour

A CHARITABLE AUGUST IN WORLD OF MMJ

MMJ by Dave Vann

My Morning Jacket will be headlining new U.S. Tour dates this coming August. The dates will begin in San Diego on August 11 and include a slot at the Mile High Festival, dates supporting Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, and will conclude in Philadelphia on August 28. Avi Buffalo will support the band on their San Diego and Los Angeles dates.

Once again the band will be donating $1 from every ticket sold to a local charity. See below for the full list of organizations. Tickets for the shows will go on sale beginning this coming Friday, May 21.

MMJ August Tour Dates

Wed, 8/11 San Diego, CA SDSU Outdoor Theater
Charity: San Diego Coast Keeper
Support: Avi Buffalo

Thu, 8/12 Los Angeles, CA The Greek Theater
Charity: School On Wheels
Support: Avi Buffalo

Sun, 8/15 Denver, CO Mile High Festival

Tue, 8/17 Chicago, IL Charter One Pavilion
Charity: Mercy Home

Wed, 8/19 Boston, MA Comcast Center (w/ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)

Fri, 8/20 Burlington, VT Champlain Valley Lawn
Charity: Combat Paper Project

Sat, 8/21 Boston, MA Comcast Center (w/ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)

Tue, 8/24 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center (w/ Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)

Wed, 8/25 Holyoke, MA Mountain Park
Charity: WomanShelter

Fri, 8/27 Pittsburgh, PA Station Square Amphitheater
Charity: Just Harvest

Sat, 8/28 Canandaigua, NY CMAC
Charity: Finger Lakes Land Trust Sun

8/29 Philadelphia, PA Great Plaza
Charity: Greensgrow Philadelphia Project

My Morning Jacket Tour Dates :: My Morning Jacket News :: My Morning Jacket Concert Reviews


Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Perform New Songs on SNL

FIRED UP BAND OFFERS PREVIEW OF FAB NEW ALBUM

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers will release their much-anticipated new album, Mojo, on June 15. This past weekend, they were the musical guests on Saturday Night Live‘s season finale with Alec Baldwin. JamBase has gotten a special early listen to Mojo and can say it’s one of the band’s best ever and possesses a lot of fire and blues-rock grit. We’ll have more on the new album soon, but in the meantime here’s their lively performances of new corkers “I Should Have Known It” and “Jefferson Jericho Blues” from SNL.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers begin their summer tour on June 1 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado. Find full tour dates here.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Tour Dates :: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers News :: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Concert Reviews


Late Night TV Musical Guests: 5/10-5/16

Late Night TV Music Lineups



Can’t make it to any shows this week? We’ve got you covered. Check out our weekly schedule of late night talk show musical guests…

David Letterman Musical Guests


Tue, May 11 – MGMT
Thu, May 13 – The National


Jay Leno Musical Guests


Mon, May 10 – Limp Bizkit
Tue, May 11 – Luke Bryan
Wed, May 12 – Macy Gray
Thu, May 13 – Jakob Dylan
Fri, May 14 – The Jonas Brothers


Jimmy Kimmel Musical Guests


Mon, May 10 – Crash Kings
Tue, May 11 – Michael Bolton
Wed, May 12 – B.o.B
Thu, May 13 – Dirty Heads
Fri, May 14 – Dr. Dog (Repeat)


Craig Ferguson Musical Guests


Mon, May 10 – Wilco
Tue, May 11 – Jonsi


Jimmy Fallon Musical Guests


Mon, May 10 – Green Day
Tue, May 11 – Keith Urban
Wed, May 12 – Sheryl Crow
Thu, May 13 – Phish


Carson Daly Musical Guests


Mon, May 10 – Wild Light (Repeat)


Other Shows of Interest


Thu, May 13 – Colbert Report with a performance by The Hold Steady

Sat, May 15 – Saturday Night Live featuring a performance by Tom Petty

Sat, May 15 – Austin City Limits TV Show featuring Pearl Jam (Repeat)


Truth and Salvage Co. Tour

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE APPEARANCES AT BONNAROO, WAKARUSA

BEALE STREET MUSIC FESTIVAL & HIGH SIERRA MUSIC FESTIVAL

DEBUT ALBUM IN STORES MAY 25

Truth and Salvage Co.

Truth & Salvage Co. will
embark on a coast-to-coast U.S. tour this summer in support of their self-titled debut album, due May 25 on Silver
Arrow/Megaforce. The 43-date run marks the band’s first extended headline tour. The trek also includes
performances at a number of high profile summer festivals, including Bonnaroo, Beale Street Music Festival,
Wakarusa and High Sierra Music Festival.

Truth & Salvage Co. emerged from the revered Hotel Cafe singer/songwriter scene in Los Angeles. The band’s six
members met after migrating to the West Coast from various points throughout the Midwest and Southeast. Comprised of four lead vocalists and songwriters, the band attracted the attention of The Black CrowesChris Robinson. He would go on to sign Truth & Salvage Co. to his label and produce their debut album. The 12-track effort that resulted from those sessions has drawn early comparisons to the likes of The Band, Tom Petty & The
Heartbreakers and The Eagles.

Truth & Salvage Co. is currently finishing a tour with The Avett Brothers.

Check below for all tour dates.

Truth and Salvage Co. Tour
Dates
:: Truth and Salvage
Co. News
:: Truth and
Salvage Co. Concert Reviews


Tom Petty: Tour & Album Changes

TOM PETTY & THE HEARTBREAKERS TO ADD SHOWS, RE-ROUTE BEGINNING OF TOUR
MOJO, THEIR FIRST ALBUM IN EIGHT YEARS, WILL BE RELEASED ON JUNE 15

SECOND SHOW ADDED IN PHILADELPHIA, ADDITIONAL SHOWS TO COME; TOUR NOW STARTS JUNE 5 IN
OAKLAND

Tom Petty

Tom Petty & the
Heartbreakers
have announced that the first 10 dates of their 2010 summer tour will be re-routed to September and October to accommodate the delayed arrival of their highly anticipated new album, Mojo. The album will be released on Reprise Records on June 15. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers regret any inconvenience caused to fans and hope they can make the rescheduled dates which are listed below.

Additionally, due to demand the tour will add additional dates including a second show at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia on August 1 and others to be announced shortly. Further information for all additional shows and ticket on sale dates will be announced soon.

Tickets for the rescheduled concerts will be honored on the new dates. Refunds are available at the point of purchase if desired. Complete ticket information is available here.

To read about Mojo, click here.

All dates between June 5 and August 27 will go on as planned.

It has not yet been confirmed whether Joe Cocker will still appear as special guest on the rescheduled shows. More
details to follow on this very soon.

Check below for complete dates.

Tom Petty Tour Dates :: Tom Petty News :: Tom Petty Concert Reviews


Alan Charing: Stitch Out Now

ALAN CHARING FIRST RECORD IN SIX YEARS, STITCH, OUT NOW

Alan Charing

Portland, OR based musician Alan Charing is celebrating the release of his first full-length in six years, Stitch, which follows up Notes for the Conversation, released under the moniker A.C. Cotton.

Stitch (LazyBone Records) also marks Alan Charing’s return to performing under his own name. Originally playing out as Alan Charing, and then The Alan Charing Controversy, he eventually decided to call the group A.C. Cotton to give it more of a band feeling.

The result was A.C. Cotton’s 2001 debut, Half Way Down (Ahab Was Right), followed in 2004 by Notes for the Conversation (Ahab Was Right). With Notes the band toured the West Coast relentlessly, before Charing decided to take a break from music and work on other endeavors.

Five years in the making, the result is Stitch, an eleven-track collection of rock ‘n’ roll that owes as much to Bruce Springsteen as it does The Rolling Stones.

Mixed by Mike Coykendall (M. Ward, Beth Orton, Richmond Fontaine), Stitch features members of Uncut Magazine favorites Fontaine, Laura Gibson‘s band, and other Northwest musicians to help Charing fill out the collection of roots-tingled, pop-coated Southern rock songs that would make Tom Petty sit back and smile.

You can hear tracks from and purchase Stitch at lazybones.com/alan_listen.html.

Alan Charing Tour Dates :: Alan Charing News


Drive-By Truckers Tour Dates TV Appearances & More

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS ANNOUNCE APPEARANCES ON LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN

AND LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON, TOUR DATES WITH TOM PETTY AND AN EXCLUSIVE PRE-ORDER

“The Truckers do here what they do better than almost anyone else—blow the fucking roof off.” – 5 stars Uncut

Drive-By Truckers

The Drive-By Truckers will appear on Late Show with David Letterman on Friday, March 12 and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday, March 31. They’ve also added additional dates to their The Big To-Do tour including nine dates with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

The Big To-Do will be released on Tuesday, March 16 on ATO Records and has already been in the Top 10 in music on Amazon. The band is offering an exclusive deluxe pre-order from their web site www.drivebytruckers.com. The deluxe package includes a 52-page color book with the art and text from the album, a Wes Freed limited edition, signed and numbered giclee, 18 postcard set, and 180 gram double gatefold vinyl. The band has also posted “You Got Another” as the third preview track on the record. The track is streaming on the band’s website.

The band will kick off the tour this week in Atlanta, GA with a two-night stand at the Variety Playhouse then heading to SXSW where they’ll play an in-store at Waterloo Records on Thursday, March 18 at 2 p.m. and then perform at Stubb’s at 10:30 p.m. with Band of Horses and Broken Social Scene. iClips Network will broadcast the band’s performance live from the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, GA on Friday, March, 12 and their sold out show on Saturday, March 13. The band’s long-time producer David Barbe will open the show with his band the Quick Hooks and they will also participate in the broadcast.

Drive-By Truckers Tour Dates :: Drive-By Truckers News :: Drive-By Truckers Concert Reviews


Backyard Tire Fire: Food For Thought

By: Dennis Cook

Ridin’ down the highway/ Goin’ to a show
Stop in all the byways/ Playin’ rock ‘n’ roll
Gettin’ robbed/ Gettin’ stoned
Gettin’ beat up/ Broken boned
Gettin’ had/ Gettin’ took
I tell you folks/ It’s harder than it looks

Backyard Tire Fire by Brad Hodge

AC/DC’s Bon Scott might have been writing about Backyard Tire Fire in his detailing of the long road ahead of aspiring rockers. These Midwestern survivors have endured all manner of flotsam and hiccups over the past 10 years, including their trusty tour van recently breaking down on the road to San Francisco. Most groups might have considered hanging it up but there’s something inside Tire Fire that simply won’t let them. BTF has distilled this enduring mojo on their fifth studio release, Good To Be (released February 16 on Kelsey Street/Thirty Tigers and potently produced by Los LobosSteve Berlin), which wrestles with life’s struggles, offers inspiration for surmounting them and still rolls with their usual gruff-smooth savoir faire.

“I’m trying to be, uh, more positive, I guess, in my thinking,” says bandleader-guitarist-singer-songwriter Ed Anderson, expressing the difficulty and ambivalence of someone who’s spent some time scraping and struggling in the real world. “It’s a strange thing to even bring up, but when they yanked the carpet out from underneath Conan [O'Brien] – who I think is a genius – on the last night he said something to the effect of, ‘Don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism. It’s one of my least favorite qualities,’ even though he’d been the most cynical asshole for weeks leading up to this night – which I loved [laughs]. And it got me thinking about how nobody likes a cynic; I sure don’t like cynics. But, I turn into the ultimate cynic of all-time – the judgmental musician asshole – at the drop of a hat. With friends, I’ll tear somebody apart that I don’t think is doing it from the heart. But, you know what? Some of my favorite people are musicians that will find the best quality in the worst piece of shit. It makes me realize there’s a better way to be in this world.”

As complicated as we make our lives, it’s sometimes a simple shift in perspective, a resolve to grin rather than grimace, that tilts our axis towards the positive. This notion is central to music’s intrinsic value and purpose. A song can turn our whole world upside down or right side up through the intersection of melody, lyric, our emotions and countless other, interwoven factors. Backyard Tire Fire – Ed Anderson, Tim Kramp (drums) and Ed’s brother Matt Anderson (bass, vocals) – grasps this notion with unforced flair on Good To Be, a series of succinct reminders that life isn’t so bad, especially with quality rock ‘n’ roll like this.

Ed Anderson by Dan Videtich

“One of the things that keeps coming up with [Good To Be] is it has this sort of conceptual ‘glass half full’ quality,” says Ed Anderson. “When you write a tune it’s obviously influenced by how you were feeling when you wrote it. Clearly, it’s not always just ‘good to be,’ but it was at the moment I wrote that song. Then, I started to think, ‘Maybe I should start taking my own advice a bit more.’ I talk positivity in these tunes but then I can be this surly fucking sarcastic, cynical asshole, and I don’t really want to be that. Spend enough time in this business and it’s easy to turn into that, but I’d like to just have fun and enjoy the moment, even if it’s just in front of a hundred people and not a thousand.”

“I can be a very fucking mean person, if I want to. I was raised by wonderful people and generally try to be good to everybody, but it can get bad some days [laughs]. I try not to get to that place, and in general I’m trying to enjoy the moment more,” says Anderson. “It’s not easy to just lay back and enjoy the ride with all the debt and things we owe, but we’re sure as hell trying.”

If program directors everywhere had half a clue and a little courage to go outside the prescribed mainstream offerings they all slot in, well, they’d find a treasure trove of classic American rock waiting in Backyard Tire Fire – something that’s never been clearer than on the hook-heavy, highly focused Good To Be. Not so long ago ditties like “Piss and Moan” and the title track were the yardstick for airplay not the exception. BTF cranks out rock with the sturdiness and potential universality of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, who’d likely have the same kind of uphill climb Tire Fire faces if they’d come up today instead of the 1970s. Backyard Tire Fire is solid gold for all the cranky motherfuckers complaining about how “they don’t make rock like they used to,” or the people smitten with the Drive-By Truckers or The Hold Steady, kindred spirits who’ve picked up sizeable core audiences in recent years. What they’re laying down resonates with the sturdiest, most endearing stuff rock has ever produced, and one senses that folks just need to hear BTF in order to fall hard.

Backyard Tire Fire by Dan Videtich

“I was sitting around late one night recently, drinking beer alone on my couch and playing ‘Piss and Moan,’ and I realized – I felt it inside – that EVERYBODY has something they can’t let go of, that thing that keeps them up at night. There isn’t one person in any crowd that doesn’t have something, and if we can get together and forget about all this shit for just that moment, just the length of a song, then we’re doing something worthwhile,” says Anderson, who respects and understands the power of music that gets a lot of people off at once. “If you’re up on a stage, what the fuck are you doing up there if not shooting for that? If you have some stage presence and try to leave it all out there [with the intensity of your performance] and add subject matter that people can really relate to, then that’s the whole package. That’s what makes people pump their fist in the air and think, ‘This song is about me!’ That’s how I feel when I’ve seen Alejandro Escovedo. It’s the whole package; he’s the real deal. I can identify with every word he says, and sometimes I feel like some of his songs are about me.”

One of Anderson’s virtues as a songwriter is his ability to encapsulate what it’s like to be near money but never really get a couple ugly handfuls for yourself. His lyrics reflect the wisdom and challenges of working class people, i.e. the vast majority of us who will never know the fantasy world the top one-percent live in. Anderson’s catalog is a place where even small choices matter, the alarm clock rings too soon and there’s almost always a debt collector chasing us down. Grasped with understanding arms by Kramp and his brother Matt, BTF’s music is rib-sticking sustenance for anyone with a blue-collar soul.

“I’m the son of a plumber for crissakes!” exclaims Anderson. “What was around me growing up was the idea, ‘You can do anything you want to if you put your mind to it.’ That’s the kind of advice all of us got as kids.”

Continue reading for more on Backyard Tire Fire…

 


I was sitting around late one night recently, drinking beer alone on my couch and playing ‘Piss and Moan,’ and I realized – I felt it inside – that EVERYBODY has something they can’t let go of, that thing that keeps them up at night. There isn’t one person in any crowd that doesn’t have something, and if we can get together and forget about all this shit for just that moment, just the length of a song, then we’re doing something worthwhile.

-Ed Anderson

 

Photo by: Brad Hodge

Music with an openly expressed “can-do” attitude can often be so cloying and disingenuous that you think, “If I had a hammer I’d smash this damn record!” Tire Fire dexterously sidesteps such perils on Good To Be, even when they’re dissecting the niceties (or lack thereof) of the rock life – touring, selling records, etc. There’s a smiling honesty about the realities of being a struggling band in today’s environment. Anyone trying to shake a dollar out of the music industry is likely to empathize with the truths inside BTF’s latest.

Backyard Tire Fire by Dan Videtich

“I’m so fucking one-dimensional! I eat, sleep and breathe rock ‘n’ roll. What I want to focus on is the music but there’s all the business stuff that sucks up one’s days, too,” observes Anderson. “As a band that’s not even close to where they’d like to be, every day is just movement towards that place. It’s every fucking day, so it’s on my mind. And maybe not ['I Love Rock N' Roll'] and that type of shit, but I’ve loved songs about rock going back to Lou Reed singing about it. I love those early fuckin’ Wilco records – A.M., Being There, Summerteeth. There’s a moment on Being There where Jeff Tweedy says, ‘I was maimed by rock and roll/ I was tamed by rock and roll/ I got my name from rock and roll’ ['Sunken Treasure']. That just works! He pulls it off and not everybody can sing about it. I think you have to be all-in to pull that off.”

“All-in” is a concise description of Backyard Tire Fire. Not one element feels false or forced with this trio, and even after a decade of grinding it out, their chief goal remains creating rock of real quality and resonance. It’s this fundamental rightness and attitude that’s won over folks like Steve Berlin, a lifer who’s known both massive success and lean years with Los Lobos.

“The conceptual rhythm of [Good To Be] is all Berlin. I sent him about three-dozen demos and he whittled them down to about a dozen,” explains Anderson. “I didn’t go into this record with any preconceptions. In fact, a lot of the stuff I wrote happened in the weeks leading up to these sessions. Steve said, ‘I love this stuff but don’t get complacent, keep writing.’ I wrote ‘Good To Be,’ ‘Roadsong #39′ and ‘Brady’ after that, after we’d hooked him in and were excited to be working with him. The whole situation with Steve has just been good. He chose the songs and the [track] order, got the tones and performances he wanted. He was very involved with shaping the material.”

Backyard Tire Fire by Will Byington

Berlin’s presence is also felt in tasty horn and keyboard touches throughout the album, with the veteran chipping in alongside the band as well as manning the recording console. These accents beef up the Tire Fire sound in significant yet subtle ways, extending the band’s longstanding love affair with the studio even further.

“That keyboard part at the end of ‘Piss and Moan,’ that counter melody that comes in with the response vocals, is all him. He came up with that on the fly; just went in and played it and left all of our jaws hanging on the floor,” recalls Anderson, who values Los Lobos’ example as a band dedicated to the long game of a sustainable, creatively rich career over fair weather stardom. “It’s surreal to have Steve believe so much in our band. He did this interview [see clip below or click here] talking about working with us that made me feel so proud and privileged to work with him. Watching it, I can’t believe this cat is saying this stuff about us!”

“I’m proud of the whole thing with Good To Be. The band played their best, and Steve got the best performances out of us. Everything he suggested we at least gave it a shot. Whether all of it made it onto the record or not, we did everything he asked of us. It’s a proud moment, where we’re sounding as good as we ever have and we’re stepping our game up. It was a really positive experience from the beginning to the end. It’s one of those experiences that turns your whole world upside-down. I’m used to going in and calling all the shots, and all of the sudden we’ve got this guy making us stand on our heads and we did it at the drop of a hat [laughs].”

Backyard Tire Fire by Brad Hodge

“He’s got a great sensibility for putting things where you don’t normally hear them. I love that about him and his musicality, but it’s totally different from mine,” continues Anderson. “From the first day, hung over and recording ‘A Thousand Gigs Ago,’ I just knew it was gonna be a challenging, good experience. For the next 10 days we’d take what we’d recorded and go back and drink a case of Rainer at this place we stayed at, the White Eagle Tavern. It’s the oldest tavern in Portland and all three of us stayed in this shoebox room for two weeks. Late night they’d let us listen to what we recorded each day on their PA. That’s pretty much how it went every day, except Steve had a Los Lobos gig one day so we took that off and ended up helping a friend move [laughs].”

Hard work lies at the center of all things Backyard Tire Fire. These guys simply don’t quit, and their latest salvo is filled with their most refined, direct tunes yet. While their path may be pocked with broken vans, lousy guarantees and other potentially Tire popping impediments, where they find themselves today is genuinely positive, a well-earned place of pride, craftsmanship and endurance. It is indeed a long way to the top but Backyard Tire Fire is built to last. With a little luck and some borrowed faith on dark days, one hopes they’ll get there eventually. Regardless, it’ll never be dull riding shotgun wherever this classic-in-our-midst roams.

“I sometimes feel like I should have been 20-years-old in 1972 instead of being born in 1972. That’s when Exile On Main St. was on the fucking radio! That’s when I feel I should have been in my prime. Right now I don’t know what the fuck is going on,” laughs Anderson. “If you really start thinking about this stuff it’ll drag you down. You just have to do what you do. It’s easy to lose sight of how good it is to just be alive. It’s hard to embrace the philosophy of enjoying the moment, but the reality is everything is temporary. It’s not necessarily about where you get but the process in getting there. Enjoying the moment and enjoying what you do is the important thing. However, that’s a lot easier said than done.”

Backyard Tire Fire Tour Dates :: Backyard Tire Fire News :: Backyard Tire Fire Concert Reviews

JamBase | Burning Bright
Go See Live Music!


ALO: Put Away The Past

By: Dennis Cook

ALO by Jay Blakesberg

One of the functions of music is to help us process emotions and life experiences. If music is to become a soundtrack to our lives it must carry some verisimilitude and hold an honest mirror up to our lives. So, it seems no accident that the opening verse on ALO‘s new release, Man of the World (arriving February 9 on Brushfire Records and currently available as a world premier on JamBase), on the stunning, moody, philosophical “Suspended” is as follows:

Lost the plot, but we found it again
It’s a mirror in which we all blend
Shades of darkness, shades of light
Everlasting, with no end in sight

The first time I listened to this album I was in a foul mood. At the ass end of one of those days where despite one’s best efforts the world vexes and befuddles in countless ways, I put on Man of the World and by the fourth cut I realized this was music custom made for bad days. Where some of this S.F. Bay Area band’s past efforts have been a touch too sunshine-y (or just plain goofy fun) for my taste, here I was awash in music that reminded me of Fleetwood Mac and Crowded House – wonderfully executed pop-rock built upon the shared reality of people living hands deep in the suds, scrubbing away at the dirty work of this world, wrestling relationship entanglements, and struggling to find good reasons to get out of bed in the morning.

The new album finds the quartet – Zach Gill (keys, lead vocals), Dan Lebowitz (Lebo) (guitar, pedal steel, vocals), Steve Adams (bass, vocals) and Dave Brogan (drums, vocals) – exploring some heavy themes – hopelessness, the persistent urge for going, the past and how we live with it in the present – and while the material has a pleasant sheen and catchy character, there’s ink black edging that gives this set honest, substantive weight.

“You have to because that’s a reflection of true life, at least for adults. For kids, it’s maybe not all lights and pretty colors, but it should be! As an adult you don’t want it to be all rainbows and leprechauns,” observes Dave Brogan. “There’s darkness and art that doesn’t reflect true life or some experience of true life, well, I don’t know. It’s questionable to me. You have to have some dark edges, and I think we have a better balance on this album than in the past.”

“Some people that follow us don’t want dark edges in ALO music because they perhaps want an experience slightly akin to a childlike experience with our music. So, they’re looking for a little escape from their dark corners,” continues Brogan. “But, I don’t think we really escape our dark corners, no matter how much Ecstasy you take or how happy the music is. And if you can deal with this darkness in the music it’s way more helpful and positive than shutting that stuff off and watching Teletubbies for four hours straight. We all struggle everyday. It can be as simple as someone cutting you off in traffic and you want to kill that person. It’s not tragedy; it’s just life.”

Meet Zach Gill

Zach Gill by Susan J Weiand

What is your favorite word? So many good ones, but I’ve always enjoyed “onomatopoeia.”

What is your least favorite word? Stupid.

What turns you on? Intellect and creativity.

What turns you off? Flakiness.

What sound or noise do you love? My daughter singing.

What sound or noise do you hate? Piercing feedback.

What is your favorite curse word? H E double hockey sticks.

What is the craziest damn thing you ever saw? My daughter being born.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Professor of something along the lines of history/anthropology/art/mythology/psychology or… a professional dancer or…

What profession would you not like to do? Anything that felt like a dead end.

What is one album that you never tire of listening to? Recently I’ve found myself listening over and over again to Regina Spektor‘s Soviet Kitsch.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Something along the lines of, “If you thought that was fun wait ’til you see what’s next.”

Working With Jack Johnson

Man of the World is ALO’s most egalitarian effort yet, with all four guys taking a bigger hand in songwriting, arranging and even tackling lead vocals on at least one cut each. Where often the group has been weighted a bit more towards Gill’s side of the stage, this album reflects an ALO where four gifted, strong personalities shine very brightly.

ALO w/ Jack Johnson :: Oahu, HI by Dave Homcy

“We all feel this album is the most true to ALO of anything we’ve done. The playing and even the messages are just true to where we’re at as people right now,” says Lebo. “We have so much to play with from this album! The first day of our new tour [beginning February 11 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solano Beach, CA - full tour dates here] will be the second time we’ve played ‘Suspended’ and the first time it’s ever actually been played in its entirety with the vocals [laughs].”

Another big change was bringing in another strong personality to help helm the recording process, namely longtime ALO pal Jack Johnson, who brought the boys to his studio in Hawaii and pitched in on everything from guitar to congas to lyrics and arrangements.

“We’ve known him for a long time. We lived in the dorms [at UC Santa Barbara] and tracked recordings with him there, and we’ve talked about doing something like this together for a while. We’ve put out records on his label but we’d never actually worked with him on a project. And it was really natural,” says Lebo. “We’d never really worked with a producer and had heard all the producer vs. band horror stories. ALO is very collective. A lot of the time you’ll have two people who like a thing and two people that don’t, and you spend a lot of time sorting that out. It was great having a producer, a fifth person, we trusted in these sorts of situations. It kept things moving much faster than in the past. Being in his context, his studio, he had a lot of ideas to contribute. We have our way of working together with the four of us but it was great to have his take on things, too.”

“When we played the Byron Bay Blues Festival [in Australia] a few years ago, he kind of became the fifth member for that set, where we alternated between Jack’s songs and our songs. It was like, ‘Really? Wow, that’s a good band!’” says Brogan. “We kind of have the same background and everyone has known each other for a long time. Working with him was great. He was very involved with all of it; he plays on a lot of the songs, especially on ‘Man of the World’ [title track] where he and Dan are playing different parts. That alone was pretty magical. In the past with recording we’ve always missed someone in the producer role who can take everyone’s input, process it and then say, ‘Okay, let’s do it this way.’ We’ve always been pretty leaderless in the past, and this made everything a lot easier. And we had our trusted helmsman Dave Simon-Baker [engineer]. I kinda can’t imagine making an ALO record without him at this point. He’s got a great personality for the studio and great engineering skills.”

“Jack had a lot of enthusiasm for the project, and we fed off that a lot,” adds Lebo. “Usually he’s in the studio working on his own thing – where you have your own history of what people like and pressures from labels, etc. – and I think this was just a very creative space for him. It’s different when your job is to help others craft something.”

Meet Steve Adams

Steve Adams by Susan J Weiand

What is your favorite word? Hola.

What is your least favorite word? Duh.

What turns you on? Patience.

What turns you off? Typos.

What sound or noise do you love? Paul McCartney on vinyl.

What sound or noise do you hate? Piercing feedback.

What is your favorite curse word? Blast.

What is the craziest damn thing you ever saw? Rolling our van on tour – the whole sliding, tipping and rolling, plus the aftermath of broken gear and band flyers floating down the road. Easily the craziest most surreal firsthand sight for me ever.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Cafe owner (with awesome food, art and music).

What profession would you not like to do? Anything that would confine me to an office cubicle for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and require a painful commute. I’m not even sure what job that would be, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like it.

What is one album that you never tire of listening to? Wildflowers by Tom Petty. Close runners-up: What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye, Rumors by Fleetwood Mac

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? Hola.

Continue reading for more on ALO…

 


I don’t think we really escape our dark corners, no matter how much ecstasy you take or how happy the music is. And if you can deal with this darkness in the music it’s way more helpful and positive than shutting that stuff off and watching Teletubbies for four hours straight. We all struggle everyday.

-Dave Brogan

 

Photo by: Jay Blakesberg

Meet Dan Lebowitz

Dan Lebowitz by Josh Miller

What is your favorite word? Carpaccio. I’ve never eaten it, but I love the way the word sounds.

What is your least favorite word? Doofus.

What turns you on? X-Factor.

What turns you off? Grudges.

What sound or noise do you love? The Purring of a late 50′s Fender tweed deluxe.

What sound or noise do you hate? The sound of a hammer hitting a nail puller (cat’s paw).

What is your favorite curse word? I reserve this for the bedroom.

What is the craziest damn thing you ever saw? ECMO.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Lutherie. It was my trade before the music got me, and if the music ever let me go, it’s likely where I would return.

What profession would you not like to do? Wouldn’t wanna be a Hit Man.

What is one album that you never tire of listening to? Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Just in time for dessert.”

Live Or Something Like It

“The method we used this time related a lot more to our live method. A lot of it was done [with all four of us in studio at the same time]. Fly Before Falls (2004) was a lot more overdubbing and Roses And Clover (2007) had a lot more of that layering, too. We’ve all wanted to do it more ‘live’ for years and finally with this album we did,” says Lebo. “Basically, we were all in a room together. My guitars are all over the drum mics and the drums are all over my guitar mics and the piano mics are… well, it’s all just blended all together. It’s not like in the past where your amp is off in the other room and maybe you’re tracking together but you think, ‘Oh, I screwed that part up but I can fix it.’ This time we needed to get it ALL together because we couldn’t change it.”

This kind of unfolding moment – without a thought for erasers and second guesses – is somehow picked up by the tape and digital coding, creating an immediacy and intimacy that captures some of the eye contact and non-verbal communication that occurs when music evolves in close physical proximity.

ALO by Jay Blakesberg

“I feel, too, that there’s a difference of mindset when you’re playing this way. It has the potential that each take will be ‘it,’ and there’s a different intensity in the way you play, at least for me,” says Lebo. “If I’m just overdubbing alone I’ll just do each part just the way I want it. It doesn’t matter if I mess it up; I’ll just keep doing it over and over until I get what I want. With this [live oriented approach], these guys might be about to have their best take ever and you don’t want to be the one who screws it up. And I’m watching them in the same way, like, ‘I’m having a good one right now. You gotta pull on through!’ It’s really powerful. The other cool thing is things make it on to the recording that you didn’t intend. With Pro-Tools and editing you can go back and change all these things you did, but this way – even though it can be sculpted in different ways – it captures what I did not necessarily know I was trying to do. This is a more real version of me, and while there’s things I maybe wish I could have done differently, it’s real.”

Man of the World is a warm grower that welcomes one in an active way, eager to bridge the divide between performers and listeners. It’s definitely the closest ALO has come to harnessing their considerable live charisma and energy in the studio.

“It was the most laid back process we’ve had. It was relaxed. We didn’t put a lot of pressure on it to be anything in particular or do anything for us. It’s really about going in and getting some songs together and recording them,” says Brogan. “We took off all the pressure we usually put on ourselves doing this one, and maybe that’s what you’re hearing in the warmth. It was recorded more live than any of the past [albums]. The thing is, we weren’t trying to make a well-crafted album [laughs]. Natural is what we were going for.”

Not every group could open an album with a nearly seven-minute empathetic simmer like “Suspended” but ALO makes the slow boil work, keeping a steady pace but painting the skyway with flashes of color and light as the piece moves. This is a glimpse of the soundscapes they regularly conjure in concert but finessed in a way that thrives in the studio.

“That song, for me, is a really special tune, and not just because I like the melody but because of the process of how it came to be. We’d never done a tune in the way this came to be,” says Lebo. “We did the record over three weeks in Hawaii and this was about midway through. In the beginning, you’re all excited and ready to start, and then it dawns on you that your time is wrapping up and you need to capture this thing. You know you don’t have all of it yet and you’ve only got like seven days to get the rest. It’s not a lot of time and the magic has to happen.”

“About a month before we went to Hawaii we’d gone into a room and just recorded a bunch of ideas. A lot of the tunes on the new album came from those sessions, where someone would lay something down and the others would come up with something on the spot or people took the jams home and worked on them,” continues Lebo. “['Suspended'] was one that’d kind of been forgotten, just this progression, this kernel of an idea, and it was late one night in Hawaii where we were wondering if we were going to have an album and we decided to play around with this cool thing. We came up with this really basic arrangement and just recorded it. What you hear on Man of the World is that. We forgot about it for a few days and then realized we had something and started working on lyrics, and we just laid the vocals down over that first take. It’s such a neat way for music to happen. It came from a feeling that we wanted to have something else on our album, and this how we reacted to that feeling. There was some debate within the band about starting the record with ‘Suspended,’ some worry it might turn some people off, but this IS us. If they don’t like this then they probably don’t like us.”

Meet Dave Brogan

Dave Brogan by Susan J Weiand

What is your favorite word? Something they say in Brazil: belleza. It means ‘beautiful’ but they use it like we use the word ‘nice’ when something goes really well.

What is your least favorite word? Morsel. Makes me wanna hate chocolate chips.

What turns you on? Feminine energy.

What turns you off? Wealth with no intellectual or spiritual foundation to support it.

What sound or noise do you love? Water dripping from trees.

What sound or noise do you hate? Car horns.

What is your favorite curse word? Poo poo.

What is the craziest damn thing you ever saw? A stuffed squirrel made to look like a horse with a mane and hooves glued to it sitting on the head of a trophy buck. I have a picture of it on my iPhone.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Outcast genius who works as a janitor at MIT, solves an impossible math equation written on a chalkboard in the hallway, gets taken under the wing of the head of the math department, can’t make it happen because he doesn’t have the social skills but ends up going to this really brilliant therapist who works at the community college and starts dating Minnie Driver.

What profession would you not like to do? Head of security on a planet called Pandora. It’s 175 years in the future. I’ve seen a lot of action before and never got a scratch, but when I got to Pandora one of the ‘natives’ gave me a nasty facial scar. All I can think about is getting revenge by destroying their whole civilization. That sounds like soul death to me. Although, I would get to say things like, “Pandora will eat you for lunch and shit you out with zero warning.”

What is one album that you never tire of listening to? Ambient 2: The Plateau of Mirrors by Harold Budd and Brian Eno. It’s the soundtrack of my soul.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “I don’t blame you for doubting me.”

A Touch of Mystery

On the sleeve of the new album and in general the band has been using the acronym ALO instead of the elongated Animal Liberation Orchestration, a name that sometimes feels a touch cumbersome for the lithe, poppy quartet. Condensed to three letters, there’s a touch of mystery that suits guys able to play pretty wide and hard while simultaneously (and successfully) working in the odd Wang Chung or primo soft rock cover.

ALO by Jay Blakesberg

“What I really like about using the shortened version nowadays is that AOL [America Online] is pretty much dead, so we don’t get that mix up quite so often. That helps,” chuckles Brogan. “I always wanted to use ALO with ‘Animal Liberation Orchestra’ in parenthesis because I think ALO is like a little brand. We got tired of having to explain that name all the time. It got to be a drag, and the name ‘Animal Liberation Orchestra and the Free Range Horns’ is sort of a tongue-in-cheek name for a college band, and for better or for worse, we stuck with the name. The way it is now, it could spell anything; it’s sort of a symbol.”

This quiet embrace of open-ended interpretation carries into the spirit of Man of the World, which doesn’t fully reveal itself for a few spins, but when it does you may find yourself tickled in places you didn’t suspect, laughing about things that are no laughing matter, lost in the glorious peels of pedal steel or Gill’s terribly inviting voice, and feeling like things might work out after all.

“There are albums that you listen to and just love the first time through but by the third spin you’re just bored. The difference is often some mystery. Albums with no mystery are the easiest thing to like right away, but it only peaks your interest because there’s not much to ponder,” says Lebo. “The ones that you put on and can’t figure out immediately are the ones that end up being your favorite albums.”

“I was sitting around my house the other day, listening to music, and the player went onto the next album in alphabetical order and it turned out to be an ALO album we’d done in college. It came on and I hadn’t listened to it for years and years, or even thought about it. It was cool but it’s NOTHING like what I’d make now. It was fun to listen to this band that I barely related to though. Had we not gone into the studio that weekend to make this music it wouldn’t exist, and I thought it was cool. I could never make this music today,” says Lebo. “It’s so important to just go and record music. A year later it’s not going to be true to what it was at the time. It’s kind of a life lesson beyond music. Everyone has ideas but there are few people good at manifesting their ideas quickly. Sometimes you’re driving down the street and you have this idea and let it go. Then, a year later you see it out in the world – somebody had the same idea and made it real. Just think of all the ideas that never get to be real because you left it as a thought in your head. It’s kind of your responsibility, in a way, to the world, to your place in the world, to make your ideas real.”

The questionnaire used in this feature was taken from James Lipton’s TV program “Inside the Actors Studio” and inspired originally by the Proust Questionnaire.

ALO tour dates available here.

JamBase | Worldly Wise
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Tea Leaf Green | 01.27 | St. Louis

Words & Images by: Neil Salsich

Tea Leaf Green :: 01.27.10 :: Blueberry Hill :: St. Louis, MO

Tea Leaf Green :: 01.27 :: St. Louis, MO

Great music has the uncanny ability to make you feel like you are exactly where you are supposed to be. That’s its blessing and its curse – the in-the-moment current that sweeps the listener away for a few precious hours and drops them off at reality’s doorstep when it’s all over. Standing amidst a lively crowd at St. Louis’ Blueberry Hill, hearing Trevor Garrod sing “One Reason” as the scene’s most gently powerful rock & roll band began to paint their nightly masterpiece, that’s exactly how I felt. The clarity of the music imparted clarity to the audience, and it was hard not to feel completely at ease.

Granted, the band’s job was a little easier given the mood established by opening act Elmwood, who sated the room with an explosive set. I often find myself bemoaning the presence of an opening band – simply craving the music of the headliner – and it was a treat to have the Nashville quartet prove me wrong. Jaw dropping percussion, fiery and passionate sax playing, slick bass work and a charismatic frontman made up this fantastically tight band. Singer Ruston Kelly‘s voice was draped in a gravel-coated soulfulness that planted images of a David Gray-fronted jam band into my head.

But even the most talented of openers can’t satisfy a crowd’s enthusiasm for the headliner, and as Tea Leaf Green launched into “These Two Chairs,” that enthusiasm was undoubtedly released. Fists flew into the air in unison with Garrod’s voice as he sang the band’s battle call: “And the kids, they just don’t understand/ but they’ve got a rock & roll band!” The crowd sank with ease into the music as the band continued into “One Reason.” I’m not sure whether it’s coincidence or mission, but TLG certainly has found their convention. They work with rock & roll’s basic stuff – grit, soul, twang, rhythm & blues – grappling with it, reworking it and wringing it out for all it’s got.

Josh Clark :: 01.27 :: St. Louis, MO

They catch a lot of flak as musicians in a scene where the boundaries of tonal, melodic and rhythmic structure are consistently tested, expanded and completely broken. Though that approach is what makes so much of live music thrilling and entertaining as a fan, there must also exist an opposite pole where rock music can retreat to its roots and recycle its initial spark all over again. As much as they’ve embraced change, in part due to the addition of bass player Reed Mathis, it’s comforting to know that their music and mission as a band is not ephemeral; they are committed to their craft and their purpose. Their sound is at once epic and roots-based, anthemic and down-to-earth, at home alongside the canons of Neil Young, Tom Petty and the Grateful Dead, the latter of whom they share with another crucial and masterfully crafted ability – getting the crowd moving. As much of TLG’s magic stems from their emotive lyrics and passionate songcraft, just as much is found in their role as a dance band. A skeptic simply needs to experience a live “Franz Hanzerbeak,” “Sex in the70′s,” or as the St. Louis crowd was lucky enough to catch, a “Precious Stone” > “Don’t Curse at the Night” sequence.

As individuals, the group was a thrill to witness. Axeman Josh Clark owned the stage, strutting around his small portion with swagger and sass. His guitar playing was phenomenal and contradicted various critics who write him off as technically shallow. Though his phrasing is heavily rooted in classic rock, the emotion in every bend, snap and strum of his Les Paul shone through as truly his own. His licks were savory, soulful and thick, spurring mental references to a young Dickey Betts; I suspect his melodic sense owes much to the Allmans and the rest of southern rock’s royal family.

Reed Mathis :: 01.27 :: St. Louis, MO

With over a year as a full time member under his belt, it’s safe to say Reed Mathis has fully assimilated into the mix. A year ago (in Columbia, MO – this reviewer’s last TLG show) he surely wasn’t displaying the confidence, energy and adventurous spirit that he brought onstage this time. The shaggy redheaded virtuoso added a distinct flair, fullness and curiosity to the songs. His vast musical knowledge and experience with countless musical projects is a welcome benefit, especially in conjunction with drummer Scott Rager, who delivered a set’s worth of precise and pulsing percussive sealant to the musical dialogue between Mathis, Clark, and Garrod.

Admittedly the core of the group, it’s Garrod’s slick hands and even slicker pen that gives the band the upper hand. In a live setting, it’s thrilling to hear his voice ring clear over the pulsing mayhem of a rock band in full force. Moreover, his songwriting skills are fantastic; he possesses the oft sought yet rarely achieved ability – Neil Young and Bob Marley come to mind – to string together the simplest of words into the most moving of sentiments and pair them with utterly infectious melodies. Top it all off with one hell of a set of hands, and you’ve the recipe for rock & roll euphoria. Whether it was on a beautiful “Earth and Sky,” a jubilant “Ride Together” or a downright nasty “Precious Stone,” Garrod’s fingers flew nimbly over the keys and sent constant streams of shimmering, sparkling notes over the rest of the boys’ rock solid outfit. As a spectator nicely commented, “He’s either shining on the keys or screamin’ on the organ.”

Seeing this band, one can’t escape feelings of hope, happiness and freedom. The purity to their approach and obvious passion for their craft exuded these three sentiments throughout the night. What’s amazing about a band like this – and a hallmark of any great live band – is their complete surrender to the show. I mused on the fact that though this tiny club in St. Louis couldn’t have seemed farther away for a band from San Francisco, they played as if it was a sold out hometown crowd. Garrod was even so enthusiastic that at one point near the show’s end he completely flipped over his stool! It makes an audience feel appreciated, and by putting on a hell of a show for a few hundred music-hungry Midwesterners, that’s what a band like this does best.

Tea Leaf Green :: 01.27.10 :: Blueberry Hill :: St. Louis, MO
These Two Chairs, One Reason, Earth and Sky, Papa’s in the Backroom, Without A Broom, Innocence, Not Fit, Standing Still, Hello Jane, Precious Stone, Don’t Curse at the Night, Ride Together, Fallen Angel, Let Us Go, Drink of Streams, Country Seduction, Easy To Be Your Lover, Freedom
E: Don’t Let It Down, The Garden (Part III)

Tea Leaf Green is on tour now; dates available here.

JamBase | Riding Together
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Ron Asheton Tribute | 01.13 | L.A.

Words & Images by: L Paul Mann

Ron Asheton Tribute :: 01.13.10 :: The Roxy Theatre :: Los Angeles, CA

Ron Asheton (press photo)

One year after his death, this special show in L.A. was a fitting tribute to the StoogesRon Asheton.

Organized by his 18-year-old niece, Leanna Asheton – whose father is the original Stooges drummer, Scott Asheton – the tribute was a chaotic, low-key showcase of some great new bands, as well as a chameleon jam comprised of a bevy of veteran rock stars. Formed in 1967, the innovative Stooges are widely regarded as helping give birth to punk music. Lead singer Iggy Pop, who may have invented stage diving, became an American pop icon largely due to his antics with the Stooges. The proceeds from the door were donated to the Los Angeles Welfare Trust Fund because of Ron Asheton’s fondness for cats and dogs. The Roxy Theatre on Sunset Strip was perhaps the perfect venue for a tribute to the irreverent Ron Asheton. In the nearly four decades since it opened in 1973, little has changed at the dusty little theatre. The same dingy black curtains open to reveal the well-worn stage. The same dark, dimly lit interior enveloped the crowd, dressed mostly in black garb, an identical scene that has played out over and over since the infamous venue first opened.

The event started out relatively orderly, with great young talent being announced and showcased. Hand picked by Leanna, presumably for their strong edgy sounds akin to the Stooges, there were some great new acts flexing their retro roots. Opening band Billy Boy On Poison played gutsy bluesy rock, belying their youthful appearance. Singer Davis Le Duke led the band in a full rock and roll assault of the Stooges’ classic “Search and Destroy.”

The Entrance Band followed with a more modern but no less intense set of music. Sounding like a cross between The Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine, the newfangled trio created a wall of powerful, jam trance rock. Lead singer and guitarist Guy Blakeslee, who plays his guitar upside down and left handed, said, “This is all for Ron.”

The Entrance Band

The Southern rock influenced Night Horse played the next set. This Los Angeles-based band sounds a bit like Band of Horses, but with a more traditional Southern blues-rock backbone like The Allman Brothers. The five-piece tore through a short set of hard rocking songs. Lead singer Sam James Velde was joined by Billy Boy’s Davis Le Duke for a blues drenched duet at the end of their set. Velde dedicated the night not only to Asheton, but also to contemporary alt-punk rocker Jay Reatard, who had just died that day.

At this point, in a true punk spirit that Ron Asheton would have probably enjoyed, chaos and confusion prevailed. As the special lineup of rock legends began to congregate onstage, gone were the introductions, leaving the crowd to guess who was actually moving in and out of the ever-changing lineup. Much of the super jam session was led by legendary punk bassist Mike Watt, best known as the founding member of The Minutemen and fIREHOSE. Watt joined the reformed Stooges in 2003. The other most prolific player of the evening was longtime Stooges collaborator Steve Mackay (sax, keys). A revolving mix of drum superstars included Scott Asheton, Jane’s Addiction‘s Stephen Perkins, and Red Hot Chili PeppersChad Smith.

A parade of singers took the stage to belt out classic Stooges numbers. Mike Jtone of Circus Boy performed in classic Stooges fashion, singing in a trance-like rage. Stage diving, writhing on the floor and kicking instruments about the stage, he raised the ire of Mackay after knocking over his keyboards. Steve Baise, another legendary New York punk bassist, actually played this first barrage of music until he stage dived into the press photographers. Jesse Hughes (Eagles of Death Metal) also played bass before Mike Watt took over.

Mike Watt

The guitarists were also mixing it up. Scott Thurston quietly took the stage about the same time as Mike Watt. He replaced another former Stooges guitarist, James Williamson. Thurston, who was the Stooges’ keyboardist from 1973 until their initial break up in 1977, is perhaps best known as the current guitar player for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. As Watt began his portion of the jam, he cheekily asked the crowd, “Does anybody know ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog?’” When an unidentified member of the audience raised his hand, Watt offered him the microphone and the would-be-singer scrambled onstage to perform an impressive rendition of the song with the super group jamming behind him. Then, Watt took over singing duties on other Stooges classics like “1969″ and “I Feel Alright.”

The super jam was followed by the headliner, the Saint Louis-based Living Things. Reminiscent of early Romantics, this hard rocking band has a clean, polished sound that might be destined for the top of the music charts. Led by lead singer Lillian Berlin and his brothers Eve (bass) and Bosh (drums), along with Cory Becker on guitar, this band has been charting music since their 2005 debut, Ahead of the Lions. Looking and sounding every bit like a classic cutting edge rock band, Living Things may be on the brink of mass exposure. The band is slated to appear as the legendary Ramones in the upcoming motion picture The Runaways. The film, scheduled to premiere January 24 at the Sundance Film Festival, is based on the story of the ’70s all-girl band of the same name that launched the careers of Joan Jett and Lita Ford. The band played a frenetic set laced with Stooges songs at the Roxy.

After most of the crowd had departed, there was one final late night set led by an Iggy Pop impersonator, with Scott Asheton back on drums for more Stooges classics.

Continue reading for more pics of the Ron Asheton Tribute…

Mike Jtone

Mike Jtone, Stephen Perkins, Jesse Hughes

Billy Boy On Poison

Davis Le Duke – Billy Boy On Poison

The Entrance Band

Steve Mackay

Night Horse

Scott Thurston

Random fan singing “I Wanna Be Your Dog”

Chad Smith

Stephen Perkins

Living Things

Living Things

Iggy Pop impersonator

JamBase | Fun House
Go See Live Music!


Most Important Shows of The Decade

JamBase’s Most Important Shows Of The Decade

Everything changed over the last decade. Never mind the political, social and economic upheaval, musically everything changed. Ten years ago we didn’t own iPods or Smart Phones; we rocked a Discman and in some cases an old yellow Walkman. We didn’t download tracks or stream shows; we bought albums and traded live Maxell tapes. Then technology set us free and the record industry collapsed. After peaking in 2000, CD sales have plummeted by more than 50-percent, dropping further into oblivion every year. Meanwhile, digital sales continue to rise and free music (both pirated and authorized) is everywhere, flooding hard drives like never before. Surely this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.

The old model is dead. It’s a new game and the rules are still being defined. One thing, however, is for sure, the music industry needed a colossal change and it’s getting it. The days of boy bands selling 2 million units in a week are gone. And for that, you can thank the digital download. Online music is on the way to making radio irrelevant and no one seems sure if MTV even plays music anymore. It’s not that people listen to or want less music. The way we get it has simply evolved. We no longer need anyone to spoon-feed us lowest common denominator crap. Now we’ve got a billion ways to get turned on to the latest thing, and with advancements in how music is made there’s more to choose from than at any other time in history.

But one thing didn’t change in the past ten years. We still go see live music. As album sales fell through the floor, live music revenue has grown by 150-percent. Here at JamBase, we’ve always known the live experience is where it’s at, and now that all bands (not just the ones this site was founded upon) are forced to survive on touring dollars, the rest of the music world is catching on. That’s one change we’re happy to embrace.

At the beginning of the decade, JamBase was just starting to really take form. Surviving the dot-com bubble burst, we were a small team working out of an even smaller house in Mill Valley, California. Soon we sprouted legs, and as our vision and team evolved, we moved into a real office South of Market in downtown San Francisco, where we’ve been since 2003. Now JamBase has the most complete tour date information anywhere in the world, providing concert listings for AOL, Billboard, Spin, Rhapsody and many more, and our content has evolved into a leading source for live music editorial. Part of our mission has always been to use technology to help you get to the show and we know today’s music fan is often on the move, that’s why we created our lauded iPhone App that puts all our concert info straight into your pocket.

Even a cursory look at the articles on this website over the past decade indicates great change. From the way we look to what we cover, change has perhaps been the only constant at JamBase. Clearly, we report on more than just jam bands now (we like to think we cover the live music scene as a whole, with no genre being off limits), but if we go back to our roots and look at the band that started it all for JamBase (which grew out of Andy Gadiel’s Phish Page), we’re reminded that change is an essential part of life. It’s often hard, but almost always exciting, and if you aren’t changing and evolving, you’re probably dying.


In the past decade Phish quit (2000), came back (2002), quit again (2004), and finally got it right and resurfaced with purpose in 2009. For the most part, this was a messy decade for Trey, Mike, Page and Fish. With personal struggles taking center stage and the music falling off, when the band finished their final set at Coventry in 2004, in many ways, things couldn’t have been worse. The muddy fields were a metaphor for the state of the band and the sloppy performances an indication of just how bad it had gotten. But they overcame their challenges, and that’s certainly part of why we love them. Who amongst us hasn’t made poor decisions and paid the price? And if there’s one thing Americans love it’s a comeback story. During the ’90s this band dominated. The pressures of fame brought stress unlike anything they’d experienced, and in the 2000s they fell hard. But as we close the book on this decade, Phish is back on top in a major way. No band’s comeback has made a bigger impact on our world this decade than Phish, and we couldn’t be happier to have chronicled every step of their triumphant return.

But there’s more to Phish than just sick jams and transcendent rock shows. The ups and downs experienced by the band in many ways mirrored America’s path this decade. Coming out of the ’90s, everything appeared peachy. Mainstream music desperately needed help, but economically and politically, America was mostly doing great. September 11, 2001 thrust change upon us in ways we may never fully understand. Our collective psyche shattered, we’ve been at war ever since. Our economy has collapsed, and we’re facing a rising environmental crisis. Like Phish, America had a rough decade, but hopefully we can grab the strands of hope we’re starting to see and rise to the occasion like our favorite bands seem to do.

While it’s not likely that Phish’s trajectory had any tangible affect on our nation, it definitely affected the music scene. Phish’s hiatus (especially the first one) opened the door for a plethora of talent to flourish. With no one band filling the void, a wide array of acts like The String Cheese Incident, Umphrey’s McGee, STS9, The Disco Biscuits, Keller Williams, and many others were able to rapidly gain new fans and separate themselves from the pack as the premier new crop of jam bands.

Michael Jackson

The changing scene and lack of a clear improvisational concert king also allowed a host of bands hovering on the borders of jam to emerge more prominently in the live music space. With the help of festivals like Bonnaroo, websites like JamBase and open-minded fans like you, artists such as My Morning Jacket, Jack White, Drive-By Truckers, The Hold Steady, Arcade Fire, and The Mars Volta all experienced incredible breakthroughs.

But, that didn’t mean the pillars of the jam scene crumbled in the 2000s. The granddaddy of ‘em all, The Grateful Dead found ways to reform, reinvent and move on after Jerry Garcia’s death in 1995. moe. proved to be one of the most consistent acts of the decade, Gov’t Mule survived the death of Allen Woody, and Widespread Panic managed to find new life with Jimmy Herring after Michael Houser passed away in 2002.

Though we lost some legends, including Johnny Cash, James Brown, George Harrison, Vic Chesnutt and Michael Jackson, we did get a bunch of reunions and even a few rebirths this past decade. Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Cream, The Police, Van Halen, The Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., Polvo, Meat Puppets, Smashing Pumpkins, Gang of Four, Rage Against the Machine, Leonard Cohen and The Stooges all returned to the stage, and all were in consideration (some more than others) for this feature.

In fact, there were pages upon pages of possibilities pored over while creating this list. Trying to determine 10 shows that stood out in a decade packed with powerful performances proved daunting, and we’re sure we left off something critical, which is why we’d love to see you set the record straight by sharing your own list in the Comments Section. But this is our list. After serious internal debate, discussions with artists and industry insiders, and careful consideration of your comments and emails, these are JamBase’s Most Important Shows of The Decade, presented to you in chronological order. It all starts with a special night in Florida that many fans spent the next decade reminiscing about or wishing they’d attended. (Kayceman)

Continue reading for The List…

Phish | 01/01/00

Big Cypress | Seminole Indian Reservation | Everglades, FL

Photo of Phish at Big Cypress by Danny Clinch

The decade began with Phish performing for over seven straight hours from midnight until sunrise in the middle of the Florida Everglades. The band arrived on stage riding their trademark giant Hot Dog as it paraded through the audience to a recording of their song “Meatstick.” As they took to their instruments and finished the tune, the final moments of the ’90s came to a close and an audience over 85,000 strong was led in a Millennium Countdown before the band launched into their anthemic “Down With Disease.” About an hour later, “Heavy Things” (cheesecake!) would be telecast live on ABC Nightly News‘ special New Year’s Eve coverage from around the world to over 100 million people.


Significant for its timing, location and endurance, the show featured some of the most powerful and definitive versions of the band’s staple songs including “You Enjoy Myself,” “Slave to the Traffic Light,” “Reba,” “Sand,” and “David Bowie.” They also showcased several beloved covers including The Velvet Underground’s “Rock and Roll,” Talking Heads’ “Crosseyed and Painless,” The Who’s “Drowned,” and Ween’s “Roses Are Free.” The set was so powerful for the band that after leaving the stage at sunrise they opted not to return for an encore, instead leaving it to Mother Nature and a recording of The Beatles’ “Here Comes The Sun” to send the audience on their way. This ultimate “long gig” left those in attendance satiated, awe struck, and thankful that the world (Y2K) did not come to and end. (Andy Gadiel)

Setlist (courtesy of Phish.net)

Meatstick > Auld Lang Syne, Down with Disease > Llama, Bathtub Gin, Heavy Things, Twist > Prince Caspian > Rock and Roll, You Enjoy Myself, Crosseyed and Painless, The Inlaw Josie Wales, Sand > Quadrophonic Toppling, Slave to the Traffic Light, Albuquerque, Reba, Axilla, Uncle Pen, David Bowie, My Soul, Drowned > After Midnight Reprise, The Horse > Silent in the Morning, Bittersweet Motel, Piper > Free, Lawn Boy, Hold Your Head Up > Love You > Hold Your Head Up, Roses Are Free, Bug, Also Sprach Zarathustra > Wading in the Velvet Sea, Meatstick


Continue reading for the next Most Important Show of the Decade…

Phil & Friends | 12/31/00

Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium | Oakland, CA

Photo of Gordon, Herring, Lesh & Haynes on NYE 2000 in Oakland by Dave Vann

In no small way, this night was the relaunch of The Grateful Dead NYE tradition. Despite the fact that RatDog had been playing December 31st since 1998, after numerous lineups, Phil Lesh & Friends settled into a stunning aggregate in 2000 that happily reminded many diehards why this music endures. The Dead tribe had set their calendars for decades around where the band would land on key dates like NYE, Mardi Gras, etc. and the buzz leading up to this evening had the same run-away-to-the-circus, butterflies-in-the-tummy vibe that The Grateful Dead always engendered. “The Quintet,” as they came to be known, of Lesh (bass, vocals), Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals), Jimmy Herring (guitar), Rob Barraco (keys, vocals) and John Molo (drums) attacked this music like it was alive – rangy and unruly like days of old – and that in turn put the electrodes to this beloved catalog. For perhaps the first time since Jerry Garcia passed, it felt like there was a real tomorrow for this music. The heightened atmosphere was further elevated by the recent passing of Allen Woody, putting the future of Gov’t Mule in question and leaving Haynes and Matt Abts to open the night as an acoustic duo. Toss in several guest turns by Mike Gordon, which poignantly reminded one that Phish was not holding their annual NYE festivities, and you had a gathering that directly and indirectly grappled with death and rebirth in stirring ways. (Dennis Cook)

Setlist

Show Download/Audio

Continue reading for the next Most Important Show of the Decade…

The Concert for New York City | 10/21/01

Madison Square Garden | New York, NY

With the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11 still stingingly fresh in our collective memory, Paul McCartney gathered together The Who, Bon Jovi, Macy Gray, John Mellencamp, Backstreet Boys and more, plus film and political luminaries like Adam Sandler, Billy Crystal, Tom Daschle and Harrison Ford for a benefit concert that was a defiant affirmation of the United States’ ability to endure almost anything and thrive. Where most events of this sort truck in near-somber sincerity, The Concert for New York City welcomed in laughter and entertainment, both of which were in short supply for the many NYC firefighters and policemen and their families in attendance. Though studded with stellar turns like Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy doing “Hoochie Coochie Man” and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards getting gospel on “Salt of the Earth,” the pinnacle of the night might be Billy Joel‘s one-two punch of “Miami 2017 (Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)” and “New York State of Mind,” where MSG exploded as he punched lines like, “They turned our power down and drove us underground, but we went right on with the show,” with an emotion impossible to duplicate. An incredible example of where the worst in human beings can sometimes be a catalyst for the very best in us. (Dennis Cook)

Full Lineup and Songs Played

Continue reading for the next Most Important Show of the Decade…

Widespread Panic | 04/28/02

Oak Mountain Amphitheatre | Pelham, AL

Photos of Widespread Panic at Oak Mountain on 04/28/02 by Jackie Jasper

As far as anyone knew, this was it. By all accounts, Sunday, April 28, 2002 at Pelham, Alabama’s Oak Mountain Amphitheatre appeared to be Widespread Panic lead guitarist and co-founder Michael Houser‘s last concert. It was the final night of a brief eight-show spring tour that felt like, and in many ways was, the “Goodbye Houser Tour.” Although not an official word had been uttered, most fans knew that Houser had contracted pancreatic cancer, and one could tell just by looking at him up close onstage that his time was drawing near. Although he would bravely perform seven more shows as he began the spring tour two months later, at this point, Sunday at Oak Mountain looked like the final one.

The venue, set in the heart of Panic Country, was packed with 10,000 serious fans and there was a tension and energy hanging in the humid Alabama air unlike anything I have personally ever experienced. The band rose to the occasion; from song selection (there wasn’t a dry eye during the “Trouble” encore) to execution to the Jerry Joseph guest appearance, it was nearly flawless and one of the best shows of the band’s legendary career. But it was more than just that. It was the way the weather coincided with the music, making it feel like bandleader John Bell had created rain during “Cortez The Killer.” It was the undeniable sense of community. It was the bittersweet, sad-yet-grateful feeling for the opportunity to say goodbye properly and rage it one more time. It was the weight of it all. Standing at Oak Mountain, bitter tears and warm rain washing over one’s face, wrapped in arms from friends both old and new, truly believing this was the final Houser jam, it felt like we were part of history on that day. (Kayceman)

Setlist

Stream this show for free at Panicstream.com

Continue reading for the next Most Important Show of the Decade…

Bonnaroo Music Festival | 06/21/02 – 06/23/02

Manchester, TN

Photo of Phil Lesh and Friends with Bob Weir at Bonnaroo 2002 by Dave Vann

Selling out 70,000 tickets in advance to an untried mega-festival in the Tennessee hills with roots in the jam scene would have been accomplishment enough, but the inaugural Bonnaroo had ripples far beyond great sales. In no small way, Bonnaroo put this subculture on the larger cultural map, joining Coachella and Lollapalooza as one of few festivals covered by MTV and other mainstream outlets. However, from the start Bonnaroo has embraced tradition and heritage artists AND cutting edge talent in a way no other super-sized fest had, putting the likes of Blind Boys of Alabama and the Del McCoury Band right next to Ween and Les Claypool. In going big from the get-go, Bonnaroo established itself overnight as a destination for music lovers worldwide. Using the abundant energy and vast subterranean network of live music loving jam fans, the organizers launched something part intrinsically “jam” that was also something much, much larger in scope and vision. While subsequent years have found the likes of Tool, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers headlining, for some ‘Roo vets there’s perhaps no more enduring, moving set than Widespread Panic performing one of their final shows with Michael Houser this first year, a pulsating, powerhouse display that included “Testify” with Dottie Peoples, where Dave Schools says he looked out over the crowd and they were “levitating.” In an age where small ideas and limited expectations prevail Bonnaroo actively reaches for grandeur and all those involved are encouraged to stretch beyond their normal limitations and ways of seeing. (Dennis Cook)

2002 Bonnaroo Artist Lineup: Widespread Panic
* Trey Anastasio
* Ben Harper
* The String Cheese Incident
* Phil Lesh and Friends (w/Bob Weir)
* Bela Fleck & Edgar Meyer
* Galactic with Trombone Shorty and Corey Henry
* Gov’t Mule
* Jack Johnson
* Norah Jones
* Jurassic 5
* Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe
* Les Claypool
* moe.
* Ween
* Keller Williams (WMD’s)
* Acoustic Syndicate
* The Big Wu
* Blind Boys of Alabama
* Blackalicious
* John Butler Trio
* Campbell Brothers
* Colonel Claypool’s Bucket of Bernie Brains
* Cut Chemist
* The Del McCoury band
* Dirty Dozen Brass Band
* The Disco Biscuits
* Gabe Dixon Band
* Donna The Buffalo
* Dottie Peoples
* Drums & Tuba
* Gran Torino
* Col. Bruce Hampton & The Code Talkers
* Corey Harris
* Lil’ Rascals Brass Band
* Llama
* DJ Logic
* Mofro
* North Mississippi Allstars
* Old Crow Medicine Show
* Particle
* RANA
* Soulive
* Amon Tobin
* Umphrey’s McGee
* Jim White
* Vinroc
* Z-Trip
* Mark Eddie
* Mike Birbiglia
* Vic Henley

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Gov’t Mule – The Deepest End | 05/03/03

Saenger Theatre | New Orleans, LA

Photo of Haynes, Abts, Newsted and Louis at Gov’t Mule’s “The Deepest End Concert” on 05/03/03 in New Orleans by Michael Weintrob

If one ever needed proof that Gov’t Mule was a band adored by their fellow musicians, then “The Deepest End Concert” in New Orleans should provide all the evidence one needs. The culmination of three years of recording and mourning the loss of founding bassist Allen Woody, this five-and-a-half-hour marathon performance found this contemporary classic rock unit joined by some of the finest bassists in the world – Jason Newsted (Metallica, Ozzy, Voivod), George Porter Jr. (The Meters), Dave Schools (Widespread Panic), Victor Wooten (Bela Fleck), Rob Wasserman, Paul Jackson Jr., Mike Gordon (Phish), Roger Glover (Deep Purple), Jack Casady (Hot Tune, Jefferson Airplane), Conrad Lazano (Los Lobos), Les Claypool (Primus), and then Mule regular Greg Rzab. If that weren’t enough, the night also had guest turns from Ivan Neville (Dumpstaphunk), Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Karl Denson and more. A largely unrehearsed affair, the show was rich in what Mule leader Warren Haynes calls “spontaneous composition.” The range of material was off the chain, including Sabbath covers with Jason Newsted, Purple’s “Maybe I’m A Leo” with Glover, and a blinding version of Herbie Hancock’s “Chameleon” with studio whiz Paul Jackson Jr. whipping the low end every which way. The art of focused, meaty improvisation has rarely had a finer showing than this gig, which also served to highlight what a ridiculously diverse bunch Gov’t Mule is – a big tent capable of holding just about anything if these cats (and their collaborators) put their backbone into it. (Dennis Cook)

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New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

04/28/06-04/30/06 & 05/05/06-05/07/06

Fair Grounds Race Course | New Orleans, LA

Photo of Bruce Springsteen at Jazz Fest 2006 in New Orleans by Michael Weintrob

Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. One of the worst natural disasters to ever hit the United States, around 2,000 people died with several hundred more declared “missing.” When the levees broke on August 29, 2005 water covered 80-percent of the Crescent City. With the pathetic, disorganized response from our government and the days of bedlam that followed, it appeared that America’s most unique, most culturally significant city (giving birth to jazz is often considered this country’s crowning artistic achievement, not to mention the food!) might be gone forever, submerged under six feet of water never to return. And that’s why eight months later when the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival celebrated its 37th year it was much more than just another Jazz Fest.

No one was sure if the organizers would even be able to make the event happen, and there were serious questions about if anyone would come. What transpired was an emotional celebration that marked a critical point in our nation’s history. It was a symbol of hope and a statement of purpose from the city, the musicians and the fans. 4,000 artists performed on ten stages over the two-weekend event, with headliners including Bruce Springsteen, Dr. John, Dave Matthews, Lionel Richie, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint. It was a stake in the ground that said, “We won’t let New Orleans die.” The massive surge of tourist dollars clearly helped, but what New Orleans needed even more was the knowledge that we cared, that despite our government’s lack of commitment, the American people valued New Orleans and we would help bring her residents home. And while there is still so much more that needs to be done, we learned that no flood could drown New Orleans. Music is the blood of the city (and those who flock there), and Jazz Fest 2006 jumpstarted her heart and began the long, slow, still ongoing recovery of New Orleans. All you needed to do was step foot on the Fairgrounds that spring to know it was happening. The smell of crawfish Monica wafting in the air and the sound of The Boss singing, “We Shall Overcome” to hordes of weeping, dancing masses was enough to make us believe again. (Kayceman)

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Daft Punk | 04/29/06

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival | Indio, CA

Photo of Daft Punk at Coachella 2006 by Casey Flanigan

Daft Punk built a pyramid of lights and broke down walls. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo were hardly the first act to blur genre lines, but what they did at Coachella in 2006, their first U.S. appearance since 1997, shattered the boundaries of electronica. Transformed into robots and perched inside a 40-foot shape-shifting LED covered pyramid, the French duo manipulated the crowd’s movements (serious dance party) and emotions (laughter and tears were both common) with brilliant super anthems like “Around The World,” “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and “One More Time.” It was pop music, but smart, funny and designed to make you think as well as move. It brought elements from the dance world into stadium rock and the over-the-top production felt like a Broadway play from the distant future. And the fact that two guys not playing any traditional instruments could be this completely captivating was revolutionary. When that pyramid touched down in Indio, all of a sudden music made by machines was for everyone. Rockers pumped their fists, hip hop enthusiasts bounced, teenage girls screamed, doubters instantly became believers and everyone was blown away by the most elaborate, intricate and arguably greatest light show ever put together. It was a life-affirming experience that brought every person to the table, and no one has come close to duplicating it since. (Kayceman)

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Radiohead | 06/17/06

Bonnaroo Music Festival | Manchester, TN

Photo of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke on 06/17/06 at Bonnaroo by Dave Vann

Few bands are more un-hippy than Radiohead, so their Saturday night headlining slot at Bonnaroo ’06 signaled a sharp turn towards modernity for the festival. It was hardly the first time these Glastonbury vets had played for mud flecked, long haired masses, but there’s something resolutely non-jammy about Radiohead and attendees were pretty evenly split between those thrilled to have arguably the greatest rock band in the world serenade them and those who genuinely thought they were a duck out of water at the ‘Roo. However, once they started playing their hyper-alive sound and permeating depth swiftly gathered up the packed crowd. A young, dreadlocked, peasant skirt wearing String Cheese fan told us before the show that she’d never heard a note by Radiohead but was curious based on their rep. A few songs in, having been splendidly tousled by “There There,” “2+2=5″ and a pre-In Rainbows “15 Step,” she bellowed from the back of the huge field, “I like your music!” It was a succinct, heartfelt exclamation and serves to illustrate how intensely moving Radiohead’s music can be. And the band appeared to be just as smitten with the Bonnaroo audience, with frontman Thom Yorke giving as good as he got in a glow stick war and shimmying like a jellyfish that’d just been hit with a car battery. The first encore was almost a second set with eight songs, including a blistering early “Bodysnatchers,” and the second encore delivered us to the celestial plateau of “Everything In Its Right Place.”

Afterwards, Yorke told BBC Radio, “We did this festival called Bonnaroo. We did 2.5 hours. And there’s 80,000 people, admittedly they’ve been smoking the sticky green all day – probably wouldn’t go anywhere anyway. It was just amazing. We played loads of new stuff. We did whole sections of quiet piano songs and it sounds like the most grotesque, self-indulgent nonsense, but it probably is my favourite gig for years and years and years.” (Dennis Cook)

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My Morning Jacket | 12/31/06

The Fillmore | San Francisco, CA

Photo of My Morning Jacket on 12/31/06 at The Fillmore by Dave Vann

There have been many epic My Morning Jacket shows over the past decade – their “coming-of-age” afternoon set in the rain of Bonnaroo 2004; their marathon late night set there four years later; the hometown party in Louisville at Waterfront Park in August 2008; and the huge NYE gig a few months later at Madison Square Garden. Any of these concerts could have made our list, but it was MMJ’s New Year’s Eve 2006 run at The Fillmore that takes the cake. The band was experiencing huge growth, both musically and in terms of ticket sales and would soon be dubbed “America’s best live band” by Rolling Stone, LA Weekly and many JamBase writers to name a few. This show put them on one of the most famous stages in the world on the biggest night of them all and they killed it.

The three-night extravaganza culminated in a sprawling NYE celebration that included an ambitious theatrical element inspired by the old video game The Oregon Trail. The mood was built upon a “Donner Party meets Little House On The Prairie” theme with the band dressed as settlers and native Americans, and the spirits came to life with a number of well executed skits that eventually found bassist Two-Tone Tommy coming back from the dead and killing his bandmates in retribution for eating him earlier in the show (food was scarce on the trail). And that was just the backdrop for a night of extremely well played classic Jacket tracks mixed with rare nuggets and a slew of covers including AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell,” Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration,” Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long,” Wham’s “Careless Whisper” and Prince’s “I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man.” The show was an instant classic. But like most of the bands that really stick with us, a Jacket concert is more than just a rock show. It’s big, heady stuff and has the ability to open us up and help us feel and connect. It’s an experience, and on NYE 2006 My Morning Jacket seized the moment and created something special. What The Fillmore run announced was a world class band with ambitions beyond just performing their songs well. (Kayceman)

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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Live Wires

By: Dennis Cook

As you dig into the story behind the jams, check out these sweet tracks from the Live Anthology now:

“Nightwatchman” from 6/30/81, The Forum, Los Angeles, CA

“Here Comes My Girl” from 3/6/80, Hammersmith Odeon, London, UK

“Mary Jane’s Last Dance” from 9/21/06, Stephen C. O’Connell Center, Gainesville, FL


Tom Petty by Steve Wilson

“I’m Tom Petty and behind me are The Heartbreakers. We’re going to have a good time tonight. I promise you that.”

These words were spoken before more than 60,000 people in the early minutes of Petty and The Heartbreakers’ jaw-dropping Bonnaroo performance in 2006, but they might well have been said at any time, on any stage in this band’s 33-year journey. This is a rock & roll unit that delivers the goods time and time again in concert, and if one ever needed empirical proof of their enduring live potency it’s right there on The Live Anthology (released November 23 on Warner Brothers), spread out over four thoughtfully chosen and sequenced discs that offer compelling glimpses into the group’s history on stages from 1978-2006 (plus a DVD of their 1978 New Year’s Eve show in Santa Monica, CA is included in the swanky Collector’s Edition), where they have consistently fulfilled the promise of a good time.

“I want us to do that, and I also want us to have a good times ourselves. If we aren’t then nobody else is gonna. But I’m selfish that way. I want to get up there and have a really good time,” says Benmont Tench, keyboardist and co-founder of The Heartbreakers.

“[Live Anthology] was a daunting task. You’re looking at 30 years of performing to find the definitive live versions of songs. Organizing and finding all the tapes was a year’s work, and then finding the best takes was probably another year,” says guitarist-songwriter-co-founder Mike Campbell, who selected the material on Anthology with Petty. “It was Tom’s idea at the beginning to not go chronologically. We just wanted to find the best performances despite what year they might be. And we didn’t want to overlook anything, so went over everything. Over time we narrowed it down. If there was a problem with the sound or the band wasn’t really on fire we’d just move on to the next take. It became so overwhelming to listen to things that we got to a point where we’d mostly focus on the vocal. Usually if the vocal was in the game then the band was right there with him. That’s how we play; we play off of Tom’s singing.”

One of the real pleasures of the newly released anthology is the bumper crop of primo cover tunes including Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well,” Thunderclap Newman’s “Something In The Air,” Booker T & The MG’s’ “Green Onions,” Van Morrison’s “Mystic Eyes,” Bo Diddley’s “Diddy Wah Diddy,” Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil,” Dave Clark Five’s “Any Way You Want It,” J.J. Cale’s “I’d Like To Love You Baby,” The Byrds’ “Ballad of Easy Rider,” and the James Bond Goldfinger theme. To call the mix eclectic hardly seems adequate, and it speaks to their depths both as musicians and ardent fans of other’s work.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers by Steve Wilson

“When I heard we were putting out a live record I was really afraid [laughs]. Because with live records, traditionally, you might get a cover or you might get an obscure song but basically it’s going to be the hits played live. We don’t change the arrangements a lot on the hits, sometimes, and I think we’re much better as a live band than a recorded band but still,” observes Tench, trailing off with a worried tone. “Then, I found out they were going through everything and Mike and Tom were getting excited about what they were hearing and wanted to do a comprehensive live set that covered the rhythm sections we’ve had – Howie [Epstein] (bass) and Stan [Lynch] (drums) (1982-1994), Howie and Ferrone (Steve Ferrone, drums) (1994-2002), Ron [Blair] (bass) and Stan (1975-1982), and Ron and Ferrone (2002-present). And I was excited that it had the crazy stuff like ‘Any Way You Want It,’ and especially that it had [boffo Petty rarities] ‘Driving Down To Georgia’ and ‘Lost Without You’ on it. What we have on Live Anthology is what the band sounds like to me. A recording is a brief experience; it’s a brief period of time. The real band is the live shows and the jams and the rehearsals.”

“Covers are always fun, and there’s so many great songs out there. At rehearsal someone will have heard something and we’ll play it just for fun, and if it sounds good we’ll put it in the show,” says Campbell. “We did find quite a few live gems, and we wanted to include that because I think it shows a depth to the band that maybe people haven’t seen before. It’s fun and it shows our influences and inspirations. It just adds more depth for the listener, I hope.”

“We grew up all listening to the same radio, except for Steve Ferrone [who is British and a former member of the Average White Band that began playing with Petty during the Wildflower sessions in '94]. It’s a total trip because there’ll be songs that were hits on both sides of the Atlantic but another band will have had the hit in England. So, we’ll start playing a song and he’s playing it the way he heard it by some other band when he was a kid. But we all grew up with a love for the same kind of music,” says Tench. “We all love country music – real country music, not this awful, awful, awful mockery they put out today. They should be ashamed, and what they call R&B today has NOTHING to do with R&B; it’s disgraceful. But, we all grew up with a love for country, bluegrass, psychedelic music, three-minute pop songs, and by ‘pop song’ I don’t mean candy type pop. The Rolling Stones, Beatles, Zombies and The Who’s early singles were ‘pop’ as in ‘popular’ music but they rock! Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, we all loved that stuff. And what’re you gonna do about Bo Diddley!?! There’s everything right there.”

The extremely reasonable price tag ($24.98 list) of Live Anthology – a four CD set with an extensive booklet of essays, song-by-song commentary by Petty, and a cool online Super Highway Tour companion site full of pics, band commentary and behind the scenes info – is indicative of a career-long dedication to holding down costs with their fans in mind while still offering a quality product.

“We’ve always kinda fought for keeping ticket prices down. It’s our responsibility I think. I always put myself in their shoes. It costs a lot of money to go to a concert, and we certainly don’t need to gouge the people that love us,” says Campbell. “There’s built-in inflation. Tours now are more expensive, so there’s the balancing act of trying to get the production costs taken care of without sticking it to the punter. We do the best we can.”

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What we have on Live Anthology is what the band sounds like to me. A recording is a brief experience; it’s a brief period of time. The real band is the live shows and the jams and the rehearsals.

-Benmont Tench

 

Photo of The Heartbreakers by: Dennis Callahan


The Root of Things

There is a strong sense of history and tradition in Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, where one doesn’t need to guess at their lineage. You can hear the primal hip shake and country and blues roots of rock & roll in their music.

Tom Petty by Kevin Scanlon

“There was a wonderful thing going on in the ’60s, where everything hadn’t been homogenized. There was a lot of discovery. Us white kids in the South were getting most of our knowledge about the blues from hearing the first Bluesbreakers album with Eric Clapton and then reading him talking about B.B. King and going out and getting Live At The Regal [1965] and going, ‘Holy cow!’ Or it maybe was hearing The Rolling Stones talk about Howlin’ Wolf or The Beatles talking about Carl Perkins and then checking that stuff out,” says Tench. “That’s what was great when you hear people talking about the ’60s, all this stuff was crossing and people were really excited and enthusiastic about it and finding their own way to do it. And it’s going on now, though I don’t really think it’s happening on radio from the little I hear. I have a lot of young friends in their twenties who give me mix tapes that have great stuff I’ve never heard from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s. The Internet and file sharing now works the way radio used to work when it had this great cross-section of stuff in the Top 40.”

“So, that’s where we all came from. I was lucky enough to walk into a room and meet Tom and Mike and have them show me songs by so & so and me show them songs by so & so,” continues Tench. “For instance, we all loved this band named Daddy Cool, an Australian group that was just fantastic and obscure as you can get. One of the first times I went to Tom’s house he said, ‘Check this out,’ and put on this Daddy Cool record. It was something I’d heard a couple weeks before on the college radio station and was blown away but didn’t know who it was. And I’m sitting there with Tom and thinking ‘Okay, this is good. This will work.’”

In a nutshell, the Petty and The Heartbreakers sound hums with the Southern overtones of gospel, bluegrass and country but all infused and morphed by a profound love of ’60s British Invasion acts. As much as critical darlings Big Star, Petty and The Heartbreakers fused the sturdy bones of American traditional music with the rebellious, pleasantly experimental gusto of The Beatles, The Zombies, etc.

“That’s exactly what we are. We grew up in the South around a lot of bluegrass and real country music. And for Tom and the rest of us, when The Beatles and the Stones came along that was our time and it influenced us greatly. I notice when we play that we draw from both of those worlds,” says Campbell. “If you really dig deep, especially the Stones but The Beatles too, were drawing from American blues and R&B, so it all kinda ties together.”

Benmont Tench by Dennis Callahan

Though many see Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers as the epitome of heartland Middle American rock, the majority of the band hails from Gainesville, Florida. A college town filled with small venues, Gainesville is a fertile breeding ground for bands, and as recently as 2008 Blender Magazine named it the “Best Place to Start a Band in the United States.” It is a place with a strong black/white racial mix and a history that touches on the state’s first citrus boom in the 1800s, the Civil War, and more.

“Well, the Allman Brothers were from Daytona Beach and Skynyrd was from Jacksonville. Ray Charles went to the St. Augustine School for the Blind. Stephen Stills went through [Gainesville] to go to the University of Florida, as did Faye Dunaway and Bernie Leadon [Eagles co-founder]. It’s a wonderful place Gainesville,” says Tench. “To this day there’s a lot of music. When I walk up and down the main street on late night walks there are all these little storefront clubs or record stores that have bands playing after hours. When I was growing up it was like this too, but when The Heartbreakers came back to woodshed in the disco ’70s it seemed pretty bleak. But it’s certainly thriving right now.”

When it’s suggested Gainesville’s sort of widespread communal engagement with shared live music is vaguely European, Tench quickly responds, “Actually it’s very American. Before there was radio and TV people sat around the house and played. Everybody knew how to play an instrument; it was part of being a well-rounded person in every walk of life. That was entertainment, friendship, relationship, all that stuff. My experience in the last couple years is it’s coming back. I live in Los Angeles, where everybody should be in it for the deal, like as a guy I met at a pickin’ party pointed out, it’s usually people getting together and asking, ‘How much are you going to pay me to rehearse?’ Well, I’ve fallen in with a crowd of people who like to just get together and sit around the house and play. It’s great. Mike Campbell comes over to my house to play, Dave Rawlings, Gillian Welch, Sean and Sara Watkins [Nickel Creek] – it’s marvelous. It’s not for the sake of anything other than for the sake of playing. It’s not a career move.”

“My favorite stuff that The Heartbreakers do is at sound checks and rehearsals. Heartbreakers rehearsals are 75-percent sitting around and playing stuff and 25-percent playing what we need to learn to play. So, it’s always been about that, to me, and it’s really wonderful that I’ve found people who think like that today, people who sit around and play acoustically; things I don’t know,” continues Tench. “Tom Leadon from Mudcrutch is one of those people. When he’s around he and Campbell are a crazy scene with the numbers that they know. They’ve sat around on a Sunday with me and played songs and it’s just so cool! Tom Petty will bring in some old thing he knows or just found and show it to us. That’s the deal: Our band is not stagnating by any means. Everybody always learns something new and brings it in.”

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We’ve always kinda fought for keeping ticket prices down. It’s our responsibility I think. I always put myself in their shoes. It costs a lot of money to go to a concert, and we certainly don’t need to gouge the people that love us.

-Mike Campbell

 

Photo of Mike Campbell by: Dennis Callahan


Some Things Change, Some Stay The Same

Live Anthology offers a nice perspective on how The Heartbreakers have changed as a live band over the years, as well as highlighting what a consistent bunch they’ve been through the decades.

Tom Petty by Susan J. Weiand

“There’s a through line with Tom and Mike and I, and the great thing is we have Ron [Blair] back. When Howie left, before he passed away, Ron had come back, so we again had someone who had grown up in Gainesville. He’s one of us, and that’s really important,” says Tench. “We now have Scott Thurston [rhythm guitar, harmonica, synthesizer, backing vocals], who loves the music and he’s a really brilliant musician and a wonderful singer. The main difference is the feel. Ferrone’s feel is entirely different than Stanley’s, and his way of thinking is entirely different than Stanley’s. So, that’s been an adjustment and it’s forced us to pay attention in different ways to how we play and how we interlock the grooves. Steve is a marvelous, stupendous drummer, so it may be subtle to people watching us, but as a musician it’s absolutely shaken things up. Stanley is who I grew up playing with. He’s from Gainesville and he plays back and listens in a certain way. He rides with the rest of us and doesn’t say, ‘Here’s the beat.’ He says, ‘I’m with you guys,’ and Ferrone says, ‘The beat’s over here.’ That’s just a different mindset. Ferrone listens but it’s a different thing. I’m really glad you get both of them on [Live Anthology].”

“Well, I think we’ve grown in maybe our finesse [laughs]. When we were young we were maybe a little inexperienced but there was still a lot of fire and I was pleasantly surprised by the musicianship [when I listened to tapes]. We’ve improved and aged and all that, but it was really good for what it was. We were just really happy it didn’t suck,” says Campbell. “This band is based around the singer and the song. We try to serve the song, and as we’ve played out there’s some songs where we can allow the musicians to jam or stretch out. We can do that as well as most bands but it’s not what we focus on the most. We’ve always played around a song. That’s what we enjoy and that’s what gets us off.”

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
By Michael Zagaris

“What we grew up on was Elvis, The Beatles, the Stones, The Beach Boys, where the song was always the main thing. As it got into the ’70s it became more about the drum solo or the guitar solo, which is fine for what it is, but we’re kind of from a different ilk,” says Campbell, whose phenomenal guitar work reflects this focused, economical approach. “If you listen to a Beatles record, the guitar does its thing and then gets out of the way of the vocal. Ideally, you come up with a line or a sound that compliments the song and doesn’t distract from it. That’s the challenge. It’s a lot harder than just noodling along.”

“The problem we have now with the catalog is with shows at an hour and a half or two hours we can’t get to it all. So, we try to pick enough things from the old catalog that people feel like they got their money’s worth and then give them a few surprises to take home with them,” says Campbell. “If I go to see a band I like and I’m going to buy a ticket and park and walk and take four hours out of my life to give to this experience, then I’d kind of like to get what I wanted, which is to hear the songs I like. So, we look at it that way – these people are there for us and we owe it to them to give them what they paid for. And part of what they paid for is the songs they’re familiar with. That’s our responsibility. I also think it’s our responsibility to give them a little bit extra – a cover or take a song and stretch it out a bit musically and take it to a place it wasn’t in the recording – and if you can do both then you’ve put on a good show.”

“We take the setlist and the pacing of a set very seriously. We want it to be a journey that builds to certain peaks and valleys, so it’s kind of like – I hate to use the analogy – sex, in a way, so you really get off all together in a certain way,” explains Campbell. “Once we have a set that works and does that, if you start throwing things out too much it might upset that. We can inject new songs along the way as long as they don’t upset the journey.”

One shift with the studio work over the years is more and more of producing has been done by Petty and Campbell instead of outsiders.

“Producing is kind of like directing. I’ve always played with tape recorders and I’m very tuned into the recording process. I’m totally addicted to it and I love it. As the records went on it seemed like Tom and I would tend to look to each other for input on how the records were taking shape. So, we became co-producers just because that’s basically what we were doing, and that’s just kind of how we work now,” says Campbell. “It’s just mutual respect; I trust him and he trusts me. If we both like something then usually it’s on the right track. In a perfect moment we get what we wanted [on tape]. It’s a mysterious and wonderful thing to do, recording music and writing it and trying to make it sound timeless. It’s a challenge but it’s really rewarding when it works out.”

“Our love of our craft is way beyond anything any industry could touch. It’s a religious thing with us. It’s what we love and what we live for,” says Campbell. “We don’t do this just for the money. When we started out we didn’t have any money and I’d still be doing it even if I didn’t make a living at it because that’s just what I’m born to do. If that’s who you are then it makes it easy to take it that seriously. If you’re someone who’s out to be a rock star or make a bunch of money then you might get stuck.”

Continue reading for more on Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers…

 


Our love of our craft is way beyond anything any industry could touch. It’s a religious thing with us. It’s what we love and what we live for. We don’t do this just for the money. When we started out we didn’t have any money and I’d still be doing it even if I didn’t make a living at it because that’s just what I’m born to do.

-Mike Campbell

 

Photo of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers by: Dennis Callahan


Mudcrutch

In 2007, Tom Petty, Campbell and Tench decided to revisit their pre-Heartbreakers group, Mudcrutch. The group is rounded out by Randall Marsh (drums) and Tom Leadon (guitar, vocals). After a 30-plus-year delay, Mudcrutch put out their self-titled debut in April 2008 followed by a short, deliriously enjoyable California tour (see JamBase’s review of their Santa Cruz gig here). Despite their many years in the business, the relaunch of this formational band carried a lively, back-to-the-garage spark that’s nearly irresistible. Mudcrutch is the sound of men tapping into the things that made them pick up instruments and devote their lives to rock ‘n’ roll in the first place.

Mudcrutch by Martyn Atkins

“Oh yeah, exactly! That was the band I quit school to play with. I quit college and faced the wrath of my dad to play with Mudcrutch,” says Tench. “My dad was a formidable guy, a very smart and wonderful guy with a great command of the English language. It was like facing – not in terms of physical size or anything – Orson Welles, in terms of his eloquence. Tom [Petty] helped with him not throwing me out of the house.”

“When you first start playing you set up in a room with amps and guitars and say, ‘Do you know ‘Johnny B. Goode’ or ‘Honky Tonk Women’? Let’s see if we can play that.’ There’s that joy of discovering, ‘Wow, we sound like a band. We can do this. Let’s write our own songs.’ And Mudcrutch was our first band, so it was really fun to rediscover that germ,” says Campbell, who is center stage in a rare extended psych exploration on Mudcrutch’s “Crystal River,” one of the standouts on the album. “I like that one a lot, and it was a one take, spontaneous recording. [The Heartbreakers] don’t do that too much so I’m glad we got that one on tape to show what we can do. It’s always a lucky thing when that happens.”

“I love doing that [Mudcrutch] stuff. I love that band. I really, really love the sound that band makes. I was a fan of theirs before I joined, so I hope we do more,” says Tench. “As far as I hear, we’re going to do more.”

There’s a new Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers album in the works, hopefully seeing the light of day next year, and the Mudcrutch experience has spilled over a bit into the new sessions.

“The Mudcrutch album was basically cut live-in-the-studio and this has the same approach. Honestly – and I know everybody says this – we’re so excited about this record. It’s a different record than anything we’ve done, a different flavor and a step up,” says Campbell. “It’s all live, which is really great. And Tom is so good. He’s always got great characters and believable, pure music. He’s a badass.”

Dylan

Trench, Campbell & Petty by Preston

Perhaps the only time The Heartbreakers have ever really strained onstage, at least in this writer’s experience seeing them, was their legendary world tour with Bob Dylan in 1986-87, where at times it seemed like the musicians, while playing great, were in a form of sonic battle.

“Sometimes it was. Playing with Bob was really special. Sometimes it was really bad and sometimes it was transcendent. For me it was transcendent way more than it was bad, but sometimes it wasn’t good,” recalls Tench. “Sometimes it probably was a battle because he wanted us to be on his foot, and judging by his autobiography, he wasn’t in that good a space then. We were trying hard though! There were moments with him that were… death defying. And there were moments where I don’t know if we necessarily dodged death [laughs]. There was a ‘Lay Lady Lay’ there once or twice that was pretty funny. But there’s nobody as good as Bob.”

“[His songs] are not musically challenging the way you’d think. It’s beautifully played, or if you hear just Bob play something on piano or guitar it’s just beautiful,” says Tench. “Anytime I’ve worked with Bob in a recording studio and he’s started to show me something on piano, it doesn’t matter how hard I try it always winds up with me saying, ‘You’re going to play piano on this one, Bob.’ He’s got a special way he plays piano, and he’s got a spectacular feel on the guitar. It’s one of those things where a line goes back to old folk players and blues players before that, and he actually carries the line down the way with a certain feel and rhythm. So the thing about playing Bob’s songs is a lot of it is about the feel and for God’s sake don’t start playing a bunch of notes! If you’re going to play a bunch of notes you better be Norman Blake, Mike Bloomfield, or Mike Campbell. You better play the right notes, and you can’t be Mr. Lead Guitar unless it’s the right thing. Charlie Sexton always does that. And every time I’ve seen Bob in the last 15 years his bands have been right.”

Fame And The Future

In 2002, Petty and the band were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers by Piper Ferguson

“It’s a great honor. You’re put into an echelon of artists a lot of whom we looked up to and made us aspire to be musicians. To be put into the same club is quite inspiring,” says Campbell. “My son had the best take on it. When we got into the Hall of Fame, he said, ‘Once you’re in they can’t kick you out, right? You’re in for life?’ I said, ‘Yeah, you’re in for life’ [laughs]. It’s something you want to be part of, and it’s cool that members vote on who gets in. They send you a ballot every year with ten choices and you pick the five that you think deserve to be in, and from those votes they choose the candidates. So, it’s cool that it has built-in artist protection.”

Still, even with the big titles not much has really changed internally for the men making this grandly embracing rock.

“We just do what we do. [Tom and I] have always played together for as far I can remember, and we’ve always been able to reach the same groove and compliment what each other is doing, Benmont, too. It’s an instinctual thing that we do,” says Campbell. “When I do sessions with other players I notice that instinctual compliment of music is missing. Maybe it’s because we grew up together, but even now as we’re working on this new record, he hits a chord and I do something that goes with it. We’re definitely blessed.”

“The thing I want us to be able to do is invite people along instead of getting up there and being showbiz-y about it,” says Tench. “I saw Ray Davies [The Kinks] perform the other night and he was so charming and inviting and engaging that you were with him from the first second. And if there was a sing-along it didn’t feel like, ‘Oh God, they’re having a sing-along.’ You wanted to sing-along, and to me that’s the best kind of show, where you just know you’re ALL going to have a really good time tonight.”

“I am a fan of the band, and if I think we don’t play well or do something hokey or I feel like we don’t hit a groove then I get mad, like I would if I was seeing my favorite band and they blew it,” says Tench. “It’s really important to me that we do it and we do it well. And I think we do most of the time.”

“Ultimately, the focus should be on entertaining the audience as opposed to entertaining yourself. Truthfully, if they’re entertained that entertains you more than anything you could play to satisfy yourself,” says Campbell. “We take it very seriously that they’ve come there to sit and listen, and we want to give them what they deserve.”

Check out the Super Highway Tour at tompettysuperhighwaytour.com.

JamBase | Runnin’ Down A Dream
Go See Live Music!


New Mimi Fishman Auction

THE MIMI FISHMAN FOUNDATION AND ROCK THE EARTH JOIN FORCES

WITH A HOLIDAY ON-LINE CHARITY AUCTION

Phish

The newest installment of Mimi Fishman Foundation charity auction is currently live. For the seventh time in six years the Foundation’s auction includes a section that directly benefits Rock the Earth. Rock the Earth – the winner of the Jammy’s 2008 Mimi Fishman Memorial Award for Community Service – is an organization that is dedicated to bringing about positive and beneficial environmental consequences on behalf of members of the music industry through the means of active litigation and negotiation. The Foundation also continues its support of the Delta Gamma Center for Children with Visual Impairments.

The auction, which concludes December 7, features the following items:

• Phish signed posters (some Pollock’s) from Summer Tour 2009

• Dave Matthews Band signed hat
• Yonder Mountain String Band NYE Package
• String Cheese Incident signed poster
• Bob Weir signed photo
• Umphrey’s McGee NYE Package
• Jam Cruise signed poster
• Tom Petty signed poster

And much more.

To view and/or bid on the auction, as well as read about the charities the auction supports, please visit the Mimi Fishman Foundation Auction Page here.


Blind Pilot/The Low Anthem | 10.21 | S.F.

Words by: Lindsay Colip | Images by: Douglas Heine

Blind Pilot/The Low Anthem :: 10.21.09 :: Great American Music Hall :: San Francisco, CA

Blind Pilot :: 10.21 :: San Francisco

Great American Music Hall is kicking ass right now. Whoever is booking the bands over there needs to get a high five. They’ve been consistently bringing in topnotch headliners AND supporting emerging acts this year (Wooden Birds/Great Lake Swimmers together last week, ahem!) and this night was right on point. The venue, a 100-year-old bordello, is so sexy that a librarian reciting the card catalog would make the hairs on your arm stand up. Not to discount the lush sounds of both The Low Anthem and Blind Pilot, but I am finding it hard to write anything negative about any show I see there. In sum, the acoustics are stunning and if I played in some folk outfit I’d be banging on the door to get in.


I wasn’t too familiar with The Low Anthem before this show (see JamBase exclusive feature/interview here for more on The Low Anthem), but I liked a few of their Americana folk rock songs going into the set. “To Ohio” and “Charlie Darwin” have definitely been stuck in my head this year and are the songs you should dip your toes into if it’s your first listen. The group consists of Ben Knox Miller, Jeff Prystowsky, and Jocie Adams, all lending their voices as well as a multitude of instruments (they seem to be highly skilled at playing 45 different ones each) to fill out the sound. On their MySpace page, they proudly list their traveling instruments: “Now Traveling With: 1 WWI portable pump organ, 1 ’73 Gibson J-50, 3/4 scrapmetal drum kit, 2 clarinets, 1 German upright bass, 1 alto (E flat), Horn, 1 crotales, 1 Salvation Army electric and enough harmonicas to summon a swarm of locusts.” And I’m pretty sure they actually played all of these at this show. It was an impressive sight. I really enjoyed the mellower, breathier sounding songs, like “This Damn House,” off of their 2007 album What The Crow Brings. The harmonies were beautifully haunting and when Adams crowed out the long notes into the belly of the bordello, he raised chills. Half of their sound provokes childhood memories, simpler times, Americana at its finest, ala Cat Stevens and Tom Petty – a touch of folk, a little blues, a lot of soul. The other half of their sound is more harsh, almost ’70s rock. Vocals stretched and strained. More grunge, dirt, foot taps, and boot stomps. The contrast was welcome. The crowd loved it and spent the entire set whooping and hollering.

The Low Anthem :: 10.21 :: San Francisco

Speaking of the crowd, I noticed a completely different set of people at this show. I have been attending Blind Pilot shows since they first played at Mojo’s on Divisadero Street in front of 30 people. The crowd ever since has been consistently loving, respectful, and enamored with founding members Israel Nebeker (guitar, lead vocals) and Ryan Dobrowski (drums). This particular audience was full of annoying chatterboxes, people yelling things like. “Take off your shirt!” and “Portland!” at every quiet moment, and girls taking FLASH photos of each other during the songs. I felt like I was at a WWE event. I’m happy the band is expanding their clientele, but this is a softer band, led by a gentle, sweet voice – a voice that deserves your ears open and mouth shut. So, wrap it up, audience! On a pleasant vocal note, it seems the normally modest Nebeker has finally gained confidence in his talent and treated us to some very beautiful vocal walkabouts, diverging from the normal melody on several songs.


I should mention that the touring live band – Nebeker, Dobrowski, Kati Claborn (banjo, back-up vocals), Luke Ydstie (backing vocals, stand-up bass), Ian Krist (vibraphone), and Dave Jorgensen (keys, trumpet) – has a very different sound from Blind Pilot’s debut album, 3 Rounds and A Sound. The album, which is pure gold in my opinion, is silky and minimal. Its main focus is on Nebeker’s lyrics and voice, highlighted ever so tenderly with Dobrowski’s percussion. The live sound, on the contrary, is a full-bodied pinot noir. They’ve added a hefty batch of instruments and supporting vocals and, in my opinion, have perhaps overfilled the glass. I’m not sure why sounding big is the goal. All of us Blind Piloters LOVED the simplicity of the album, enjoyed every teeny tiny inflection in Nebeker’s voice. With all the surrounding instrumental bojangle now, it’s easy to get lost. Don’t get me wrong. The songs are still amazing. “Oviedo,” “The Story I Heard,” “Go On Say It,” “3 Rounds and a Sound,” and “I Buried A Bone,” these are bewitching songs, but they sounded a bit noisy tonight.

Blind Pilot :: 10.21 :: San Francisco

They opened with “White Apple” and closed with “We Are The Tide,” both newer songs that aren’t on the aforementioned album. In all honesty, these were probably the best songs of the evening because they truly compliment a six-piece band. If this is a glimpse into the new Blind Pilot, then I’m certainly open to hearing more. That being said, I think their magic still lies in the cozy simplicity of it all. The quieter album tracks like “Paint or Pollen,” “Bitter End,” and “Poor Boy” sounded beautiful tonight in the hall, with Nebeker’s voice gliding over the ornate marble columns and balconies. Another highlight of the night was a cover of Gillian Welch‘s “Look At Miss Ohio,” something they had recently heard at a festival and added to their repertoire. Nice bonus.


What I was particularly drawn to about Blind Pilot last year was their interesting approach to promoting their music. In 2008, Nebeker and Dobrowski completed a tour, from Bellingham, WA, to San Diego, CA on bicycles, literally hauling their instruments behind them on custom-made bicycle trailers. They performed in small venues and coffee shops (Mojo Bike Shop in S.F., etc), amassing followers and devotees along the way. Some fans even hopped on their own bicycles to join the duo. Why did they do this? Nebeker told me, “The biggest reason was that we didn’t know if it could work and we wanted to find out. It seemed like the perfect antidote to both the dreary winter of Portland and also to the routine and established path for music and bands to take.” So, there you go – a little curiosity and a lot of guts. This grassroots marketing paid off in spades and the guys went back to Portland to create their first album. They ended up securing a single of the week on iTunes as well as a song on a Starbucks compilation and a spot on Last Call With Carson Daly. It was only a matter of time before they started gaining serious momentum by playing SXSW, Sasquatch!, Lollapalooza, and Outside Lands. Then it was opening for bands like Gomez, The Decemberists, and The Counting Crows while also headlining their own shows. Not bad for one year’s work.


Blind Pilot deserves all of the success they are receiving. They have nothing but open roads in front of them, and if they can maintain the balance of moving forward while keeping an eye on the rearview mirror, then I think they’ll be better than okay.

Blind Pilot and The Low Anthem are on tour now; dates available here.

Continue reading for more images of Blind Pilot and The Low Anthem in San Francisco…

The Low Anthem

The Low Anthem

Blind Pilot

Blind Pilot

Blind Pilot

Blind Pilot

Blind Pilot

Blind Pilot

Blind Pilot

JamBase | Seeing Fine
Go See Live Music!


Tom Petty: The Live Anthology & SuperHighway Tour

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Announce The Live Anthology

Tickets for the SuperHighway Tour Available Now!

Tickets for the entirely unique Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Superhighway Tour are now on sale via TomPettySuperHighwayTour.com and Ticketmaster.com.

The Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Superhighway Tour is a first of its kind online-only music experience that delivers to ticketholders 24 of the 48 The Live Anthology tracks over an 8 week advance period. During this period ticketholders will receive an insider’s view of those 24 tracks, whether through archived memorabilia, new band commentary, classic reviews from the vaults, and more amassed rare vintage Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers content. Fans will also be able to share their photos and stories from their favorite Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers shows.


Then on the album’s November 24 release, SuperHighway Tour ticketholders will digitally receive the remaining 24 tracks on The Live Anthology, thereby completing the entire album.

Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ The Live Anthology is a multiple disc set of recordings drawn from thirty years of live performances. The collection brings together material from 1978-2007 culled from hundreds of hours of live concert recordings covering every era of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ tours and represents the best tracks as chosen by producers Tom Petty, Mike Campbell and Ryan Ulyate. The Live Anthology is the band’s story told through the music alone; the producers made no fixes or overdubs.

Tickets for the entire 8 week SuperHighway Tour are now on sale via TomPettySuperHighwayTour.com and Ticketmaster.com.

A FREE PREVIEW of the SuperHighway Tour is also available now at TomPettySuperHighwayTour.com and includes a FREE DOWNLOAD of “Nightwatchman” from the 1981 run of shows at Los Angeles’ Forum.

The price of a Superhighway Tour ticket includes all 48 The Live Anthology digital tracks plus the 8 week online experience for $24.98 without any additional service fees. Downloads are available in 256kbps MP3 or FLAC formats – fan’s choice.

Also check out the brand new TomPetty.com.


Phish: Festival 8 Band To Play Last Record Alive

Phish Festival 8: Band To Play Last Record Alive

Phish‘s Festival 8 site has released a list of 99 albums of which the band will pick one to play on Halloween.

Several albums have already been “killed off” and a note on the site indicates that Phish will “play the last record alive.” See below for a complete list, including those that have already been “killed.”


Special thanks to jamtopia.com for compiling the potential albums list below.

Possible Phish Halloween Cover Albums

Phish

1.AC/DC | Back In Black

2.Aerosmith | Toys In The Attic

3.Allman Brothers Band | Eat A Peach

4.Arcade Fire | Funeral

5.Beastie Boys | Hello Nasty

6.BeeGees | Saturday Night Fever

7.Black Sabbath | Paranoid

8.Blind Faith | Blind Faith

9.Bob Dylan | Blood On the Tracks

10.Bob Dylan & the Band | The Basement Tapes

11.Bob Seger | Against The Wind

12.Boston | Boston

13.Brian Eno | Before And After Science

14.Bruce Springsteen | Born To Run

15.Chicago | The Chicago Transit Authority

16.Creedence Clearwater Revival | Green River

17.Curtis Mayfield | Superfly Soundtrack

18.David Bowie | Hunky Dory

19.David Bowie | Ziggy Stardust

20.David Bowie | Scary Monsters

21.Devo | Freedom of Choice

22.Duran Duran | Rio

23.Eagles | Hotel California

24.Elton John | Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

25.Elvis Costello (nee Declan McManus) | This Year’s Model

26.Eric Clapton | 461 Ocean Blvd

27.Firehose | Flyin’ the Flannel

28.Fleetwood Mac | Rumours

29.Frank Zappa | Apostrophe

30.Frank Zappa | Hot Rats

31.Genesis | The Lambs Lie Down On Broadway

32.Grateful Dead | American Beauty

33.Guns & Roses | Appetite For Destruction

34.Hall & Oates | Private Eyes

35.Huey Lewis And The News | Sports

36.Jane’s Addiction | Ritual de Lo Habitual

37.Jimi Hendrix | Are You Experienced?

38.Jimi Hendrix | Electric Ladyland

39.John Lennon | Plastic Ono Band

40.Modern Lovers | The Modern Lovers

41.Journey | Escape

42.KISS | Alive II

43.King Crimson | Larks’ Tongues In Aspic

44.Led Zeppelin | I

45.Led Zeppelin | IV (Zoso)

46.Leonard Cohen | I’m Your Man

47.Love | Forever Changes

48.Manu Chao | Clandestino

49.Medeski, Martin & Wood | Shack Man

50.Metallica | Master Of Puppets

51.MGMT | Oracle Spectacular

52.Michael Jackson | Thriller

53.Michael McDonald | If That’s What It Takes

54.Miles Davis | A Tribute To Jack Johnson

55.Minutemen | Double Nickels On The Dime

56.Neil Young | Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

57.Neil Young | Tonight’s The Night

58.Nirvana | Nevermind

59.Pavement | Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain

60.Pearl Jam | Ten

61.Peter Gabriel | So

62.Pink Floyd | Meddle

63.Pink Floyd | The Wall

64.Pixies | Come On Pilgrim

65.Pork Tornado | Pork Tornado

66.Primus | Sailing The Seas Of Cheese

67.Prince | Purple Rain

68.Queen | A Night At The Opera

69.Radiohead | Kid A

70.Rage Against The Machine | Evil Empire

71.Rolling Stones | Exile on Main Street

72.Rolling Stones | Sticky Fingers

73.Rush | Moving Pictures

74.Steely Dan | Pretzel Logic

75.T.Rex | Electric Warrior

76.Talking Heads | Fear Of Music

77.Television | Marquee Moon

78.The Band | The Band (aka Brown Album)

79.The Beach Boys | Pet Sounds

80.The Beatles | Rubber Soul

81.The Clash | London Calling

82.The Doors | The Doors

83.The Police | Ghost In The Machine

84.The Ramones | Ramones

85.The Roots | Phrenology

86.The Who | Who’s Next

87.Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers | Damn The Torpedoes

88.Tom Waits | Rain Dogs

89.U2 | Joshua Tree

90.Van Halen | Van Halen

91.Van Morrison | Astral Weeks

92.Velvet Underground | Velvet Underground And Nico

93.Violent Femmes | Violent Femmes

94.Ween | White Pepper

95.White Stripes | Elephant

96.Wilco | Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

97.X | Los Angeles

98.Yes | The Yes Album

99.ZZ Top | Tres Hombres

What album do you want them to play? Tell the world on the JamBase Forums.